The Stone of Shadows
by Chuztox
Summary: The untold tale of Tayuya, and her new life after that fateful day over 2 years ago.
1. Remniscient Aftermath

Chapter 1 –

Chapter 1 – Reminiscent Aftermath

A gentle breeze blew through the trees, cooling the air of the warm morning. Two figures were walking at a casual pace along the dirt path near the field. As they walked, the two figures were quiet, each pondering how long until they reached their destination. One of the figures stopped and sighed, her face quickly turning as red as her shoulder length red hair.

"Heh, again, Tayuya?", The other figure asked.

"Yes…", Tayuya responded, with her typical attitude.

"Well, hurry up", The other girl stated.

"Shut it," Tayuya demanded, walking into the trees near the dirt path.

After a couple minutes, and a few instances of a rustling-esque sound, the red-headed kunoichi emerged from the trees, with the same scowl she always carried, planted firmly on her face. Tayuya said nothing to her partner, and continued on the path. Her partner followed, just a step behind. Tayuya looked at her partner, Oshime Shiruba, her long, silver hair gently blowing with the slight breeze. Her piercing orange eyes stared straight ahead, not noticing, or much more likely, not caring that Tayuya was looking at her. Tayuya looked back ahead of her, thinking of the past as she walked.

_Tayuya slowly opened her eyes, as an incredible pain engulfed the lower half of her body. Her head upside-down, she looked at her surroundings, too afraid of the potential pain to attempt to sit up. As she stared, she saw naught but demolished trees spread across the forest floor. She did not even need to sit up to know that she was currently lying under a tree trunk. Her memories came pouring back to her, remembering that shit-faced little shadow brat and the whore who came out of nowhere and defeated her. Since it was twilight, Tayuya reckoned she must have been unconscious for hours. She managed a small smile despite the pain, as she realized her attackers must have only assumed she had been killed. _

_"Dumbasses," She managed to state, coughing a bit of blood in the process._

_With the only strength she could muster, Tayuya managed to lift the log off her abdomen just enough to slide her damaged body out from under it. She rolled over, noticing the wetness across the lower half of body, assuming it was blood._

_"H-how much blood did I lose…?", Tayuya sputtered, before once again blacking out, this time falling asleep, instead of unconscious._

"Hey, Tayuya!", Oshime yelled, yanking Tayuya out of her memories.

"Huh, wha-!?," Tayuya said, oblivious to the surroundings.

"We're taking a left at the fork in the road, not right," Oshime said, standing on the left-bound path.

"Oh, right…," Tayuya replied, walking towards the left path.

"What's with you?," Oshime asked, "You've been distant and vacant all day."

"It's nothing," Tayuya stated, not looking at Oshime.

"C'mon, Tayuya, you haven't even been as mean as you usually are," Oshime said jokingly, not even getting a scowl in return.

The red-headed kunoichi continued walking, not wanting to give her partner the satisfaction of a response.

"Seriously, Tayuya, if you don't have your head in the game, there's no way we can pull this heist off", Oshime said, showing concern.

"I know, I know, relax," Tayuya said, "We're at least a day away from the village, so it's no big deal."

"Ok, fine," Oshime sighed, "But if you screw this heist up, don't be surprised when I lop your head off with my Sui-Riu"

"Ok, ok, keep your damn sword sheathed," Tayuya stated, "We all know you're quick to draw that thing to compensate for your lack of breasts."

"You're one to talk, with those mosquito bites of yours!" Oshime shouted, glaring at her. "At least I don't have to wear…" She added, before stopping herself.

Tayuya shot her daggers, but decided not to press the subject. They continued silently, Oshime deciding not to apologize, despite feeling bad. The sun was beginning to set, as the sky began changing color to match the eyes of the silver-haired ninja. Tayuya found her mind wandering again, once again pulling her towards her past.

_Tayuya once again found herself opening her eyes among the fallen forest. This time, however, she was coming out of sleep in the early morning, and was no longer being crushed by a tree trunk. She felt that she was lying in a wet patch, but looking around showed no signs of rain. Nervous that she had lost massive amounts of blood, she pulled herself to sitting position, and looked herself over. The lower half of her was soaked, but she noticed it wasn't blood. Not really caring where the liquid came from at the moment, she looked herself over for any significant wounds, and found that she had lost a moderate amount of blood, but nothing life-threatening, and found that her left leg and abdomen had suffered a good amount of damage._

_"Fuck!" She yelled, as she pressed her arm down onto her left leg. _

_She didn't think it was broken, but nonetheless, she could only put very little weight onto it. Her right shoulder was in some pain, too, but she placed that out of her mind. She knew her abdomen had suffered massive damage, but that was to be expected after having a tree fall on it. Not knowing how to diagnose such an injury in anyway other than "fucking painful", she could do nothing but hope it wasn't life-threatening, and would heal soon. It was then that her mind wandered back to the wet patch on her pants and on the ground. Now that she had analyzed her situation more, she couldn't help but wonder where this liquid came from. It was cool against her skin, but she couldn't help but think it wasn't water. As she pondered, a certain odor reached her nose. Recognizing it as urine, she looked around for an animal that had snuck up on her. It only took a few seconds for her to put two and two together, and realize she was sitting in a puddle of her own urine._

_"Dammit!" She shouted, wiping the hand she used to touch it on her shirt._

_After a bit of thought, she realized she shouldn't be surprised. After all, she had been crushed by a tree, and had been passed out for many hours now. Summoning her effort, she pulled herself to her feet, yelling profanities as weight was put on her bad leg. She quickly lifted that leg, and balanced on the other as she snapped a branch off one of the down trees to use an impromptu crutch. She began hobbling, hoping she could find her teammates before too long. As she made her way towards the edge of the debris, she noticed a small object shining beneath the leaves. She winced in pain as she bent over enough to pull the object off the forest floor, and stared dejectedly at the twisted hunk of metal that had once been her flute. She placed the broken instrument into the damaged holster around her waist, and continued hobbling._

"Let's set up camp here for the night," Oshime said, once again pulling Tayuya out of her daydream.

"Yeah, sounds good," Tayuya said, looking around at how dark it had gotten since she began to reminisce.

The two quickly set up their two tents, and had a quick meal using the fire Oshime created with a simple jutsu. They ate in silence, Oshime noticing that Tayuya wasn't her usual obnoxious self.

"I'll be right back," Tayuya said, as she finished her meal.

Oshime nodded, knowing what Tayuya needed to do. The red-haired girl glanced at her friend, noticing her lustrous eyes seemed to pierce the darkness like small flashlights, and made her way to her tent. Oshime gave her friend privacy, hearing the rustling sounds she had come to recognize since they had been traveling together. She took the opportunity to find a tree she could use to go to the bathroom, making sure she grabbed a few tissues before she went. Both girls returned to the small fire at the same time, sitting back down on the small log on the ground.

"We should turn in for the night", Oshime said, getting a nod in response.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get this damn cloak off," Tayuya stated. In actuality, she found the cloak to be quite nice looking, but being almost entirely black meant it was sweltering to wear outside during the daytime heat.

"Don't complain. Just be lucky I'm letting us take them off to sleep," Oshime replied. "The Akatsuki never take theirs off. In fact, if a member took theirs off, it probably meant they were about to die."

"Yeah, yeah, but we're not Akatsuki, Oshime," Tayuya stated, "We're just masquerading as them."

"Well, duh, that was my idea, you know." Oshime said, "We need to keep the guise up as long as possible to fool who we need to."

"It can't be that hard to fool such a small, bumpkin village," Tayuya replied, "I mean, I've never even heard of this place."

"We'll talk about this in the morning," Oshime said, "Right now, we need to sleep."

Both girls removed their cloaks, and placed them in their supply case, along with Tayuya's flute, and Oshime's Sui-Riu. Tayuya made a few handsigns, and put a sealing jutsu on the case, which would now neither open, nor move from its current location unless either Tayuya or Oshime performed the necessary handsigns. Tayuya bid her partner goodnight, and entered her tent, content with sleeping in the outfit she was wearing under her robe. Oshime, not wanting to do the same, entered her own tent, and changed into a long, blue shirt that reached her knees. There was a black symbol across the chest, round on one side, and with two, curved spikes on the other. Oshime sighed as she looked at it, and got under the covers, extinguishing her own lantern. Ten feet away, in her own tent, Tayuya lay under the covers of her sleeping bag, trying like always to find a comfortable position in which to fall asleep. She put out her lantern, and closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep not long after.


	2. The Fallen

Chapter 2 – The Fallen

Chapter 2 – The Fallen

Tayuya opened her still weary eyes, and blinked a few times, before stretching and sitting up. She opened her tent door slightly, and peered out into the early morning. She could tell it was early, but had no desire to return to sleep. She reckoned she had a couple of hours until Oshime got up, so she closed her tent door, and laid back onto her sleeping bag. Staring at the ceiling of the tent, she found herself once again getting lost in her own thoughts.

_ITayuya hobbled forward, only partially sure she was going the way her teammates should have been. As she made her way forward, she saw some type of white structure. She made her way towards it, not sure what it was she was seeing. Tayuya gasped as she entered the clearing in forest. She stared at the tall, white structures protruding from the ground, knowing instantly that they were the bones of her teammate, Kimimaro._

"_Kimimaro?," Tayuya said out loud, "What the hell was he doing here, as sick as he is?"_

_Tayuya hobbled up to the bone formation, and worked her way around it, and through the spaces between them when possible, but found no sign of her teammate. Tayuya leaned against one of the structures, and eased herself into a sitting position, wincing at the slight pains across her body. Pondering what could have happened, she sighed, and looked at the bone structures. As she looked above her, she gasped in shock at what she saw. There was her teammate, sticking out of the top of a bone spire, a vacant look on his lifeless face, unmoving. His body was still in its second state of cursed seal, and his left arm was covered in his bone spiral technique still. Tayuya stared at her dead teammate for a few minutes, realizing that his sickness must have been what ended him, despite the observation that he appeared to be in the middle of a battle at the time._

"_Well, that's the idiot gets for leaving the compound," Tayuya stated, "He should have known he was too sick to be of use to Lord Orochimaru"_

_Tayuya summoned her strength, and pulled herself back up, making sure not to put weight on her bad leg. Taking one last look at her fallen comrade, she began limping from her location. She made her way forward for a bit, before deciding follow the small river down the gorge, knowing Sakon and Ukon had fallen down there during their skirmish with that feral brat and his mongrel. As she made her way, she felt the terrain change, becoming more rock-covered and jagged. Careful not to lose her balance, she managed to continue forward, looking for any signs of her conjoined teammates. The first thing she noticed was a trail of blood splatterings leading away from the river. She followed the path, not sure what she was expecting to find at the end of the trail. What she did find was nothing she was currently prepared for. She stared at the bloody body of her two teammates, each head with a mix of rage and surprise on their faces, lying in a puddle of their own blood. It looked like they had been stabbed multiple times, from various angles. _

"_Them, too?" Tayuya asked, starting to feel alone, "Those dumbasses probably got overconfident again."_

_Tayuya sighed, and began trekking away from the bloodied corpse of her combined teammates, trying to find a way out of the canyon, hoping to find Kidomaru or Jiroubo still alive._

"_With my luck, it'll just be me and Lardass…", Tayuya grumbled, continuing on./I_

"Hey Tayuya, you awake yet?" Oshime said gently, outside of Tayuya's tent.

"Yeah, I'm awake," Tayuya replied, stretching her legs under her sleeping bag.

"Ok, meet me out here when you're done changing," Oshime said, "Umm, if you need to that is."

"Yeah, yeah" Tayuya grumbled, knowing that she did indeed need to.

Oshime sat by the sealed chest, hearing the sounds she'd come to correlate with Tayuya. After a few minutes, Tayuya emerged from her tent, wearing a light green T-shirt, and a pair of baggy, black sweatpants. Tayuya said nothing as she walked over to the chest, and performed the necessary handsigns to release the sealing jutsu on it. Oshime opened the latch, and quickly grabbed her sword, followed by her Akatsuki cloak. Tayuya scooped her cloak and flute out the chest, and first placed her flute in its holster on her belt. She stared at her cloak, not wanting to put it on in the already humid and warm air. Sighing, she slipped it over her outfit, noticing that Oshime had already done the same.

"Ok, let's go," Oshime said, collecting her supplies into her pack. Tayuya did the same, folding her tent up awkwardly, and shoving it into its holder incorrectly.

"Nice job…" Oshime said sarcastically, "And you wonder why your last tent broke…"

"Shut it," Tayuya growled, walking onto the path, "What's the name of this village, again?"

"Ugh, what CAN you remember?" Oshime replied, shaking her head, "The village is Kagegakure, the Village Hidden in the Shadows. It's located in the middle of a tall mountain range, so they say they're protected by the shadows of the mountains."

"Huh, well, you'd think they'd call themselves the Village Hidden in the Mountains, or something," Tayuya said.

"Well, they're not called that, so try to act nice when we meet the Kage of the village, ok?" Oshime pleaded, "I don't want your foul attitude to ruin this heist."

"Ugh, shut your trap," Tayuya demanded, "Wait, I thought only the five main villages had a Kage?"

"Official Kages, yes," Oshime replied, "But many smaller villages call their leaders "Kage" in order to boost the moral of their people."

"So, this village calls its leader the Kagekage, I assume?" Tayuya said, shaking her head. "This'll be the easiest heist we've ever done"

Oshime just shook her head, not saying anything. The two continued their forward progress, Tayuya noticing an odd look on her partner's face, but deciding not to mention it.

_ITayuya had finally found her way out of the gorge, and continued at her sluggish pace through the forest. She recognized a few remnants of the traps she had set for their pursuers just the other day, and knew she was going the right direction. She continued looking around for any signs of her other two teammates, and eventually found an area of trees with had fist-sized holes in them, along with a fabric-like material spread across the forest floor. Knowing this to be the work of Kidomaru, she looked around, noticing more webbing in every direction. She sighed, and walked around the area, until she saw a figure lying on the ground in the distance. Stumbling over to it, she saw the body of Kidomaru lying motionless on the ground. Noticing he only had a few nicks and scratches on his body, Tayuya grimaced, and painfully bent over to check for signs of life. _

"_Nope," She sighed, "Dead like the others."_

_Tayuya shook her head, and began hobbling away from Kidomaru, only somewhat sure she was headed in Jiroubo's direction. As she walked on, she looked at the six-armed shinobi one last time before shaking her head._

"_How could a bunch of shit-faced genin decimate us like this?" Tayuya yelled to no one in particular. _

_Tayuya no longer expected Jiroubo to be alive, seeing as he was the weakest of their team. Despite this, she continued her slow pace towards the place she thought he was. Before getting too far from Kidomaru's location, she felt a warm sensation spreading across her legs. She was confused at the cause, as her pants had dried awhile ago. She looked down to see the wetness spreading down almost to the edge of her pants before coming to a stop. She looked around for a water source, but was unsurprised to find one._

"_Did I just…?" Tayuya asked herself, the faint smell of urine answering her question before she could ask it._

_Tayuya yelled a few profanities, and had to stop herself before she stomped on the ground with her bad leg. She realized the internal damage to her abdomen must have been pretty severe, having rendered her temporarily incontinent, or at least she hoped it was only temporary. She released a few more profanities, and continued going forward._

_After twenty or so minutes, Tayuya found herself in a clearing, much smaller than the one Kimimaro had met his end in, with a small crater in the center. Hobbling over to center, she saw the body of Jiroubo lying in the center. His chest looked like it had been caved in by whatever had formed this impact crater. Despite expecting to find him dead, finding Jiroubo made Tayuya feel the worse. It's not that she cared more about him than the others, quite the opposite in fact, but seeing the last of her teammates dead made her feel alone for the first time in her life, despite fending for herself since the age of seven. Tayuya veered to the left, unsure of where she was heading, but knowing she would not return alone to Lord Orochimaru, lest she wind up the same as the rest of her team. She shed nary a tear for her comrades, as shinobi were trained to never show their emotions, lest they show weakness. _

_Tayuya continued for hours, hungrier and thirstier than she had ever thought it possible to be, and her pants incredibly uncomfortable as the urine dried. Just as she thought she didn't have the strength to continue any further, a snapping sound penetrated her ears, as the branch she had been using as a crutch broke, sending the kunoichi tumbling to the ground. Pain tore through her as she hit her leg and other other injuries against the rough ground. Not even having the strength to swear, Tayuya found a single thought in her mind, as she blacked out: "Fuck."/I _

Tayuya snapped back to reality as she almost tripped on a pebble protruding from the ground, swearing at it as if it would respond.

"Nice going, Tayuya," Oshime said, "You were almost beaten by a rock…"

"Screw you, shit-face," Tayuya responded, "A damn fly could kick Iyour/I ass."

Oshime gave her a mean look, but then looked back at the path ahead, pulling a small container out of her pack. She opened it, and began munching on the food inside.

"Want some pretzels?" Oshime asked, holding out the container.

"No thanks," Tayuya responded, not even glancing over at her partner.

Oshime brought the container back close to her, and continued snacking, finishing the whole thing quickly. Tayuya stopped suddenly, causing Oshime to stop and look at her. Tayuya did not need to say a word, as Oshime nodded. Tayuya walked into the trees with her pack, and emerged a few minutes later, blushing as she usually did in the situation. Saying nothing, both girls began walking again, getting closer to their destination.


	3. Salvation

Chapter 3 – Salvation

Chapter 3 – Salvation

As the duo walked, Tayuya began to notice mountains in the distance, ahead and on her left. She figured they must've been getting close, since the village was in the middle of a mountain range. As she looked ahead, she noticed Oshime stop, out of the corner of her eye.

"What's up?" Tayuya asked, also stopping.

"This is the way to get to Kagegakure," Oshime responded.

"What?" Tayuya replied, confused, "What do you mean?"

"Did you think this path would just lead to the village, a _hidden _village?" Oshime stated, "We need to take a left here, and travel through the forest for a bit."

"I guess that makes sense," Tayuya answered, "But how the hell do you know to turn here?"

Tayuya wasn't sure if Oshime hadn't heard her, or just simply ignored her, but she didn't answer the question. She simply turned, and jumped into the trees, beginning to tree jump at normal ninja speed. Tayuya quickly followed, going a tiny bit faster, making sure to catch up to Oshime. Tayuya watched the trees blur by, making sure to follow Oshime, wondering how she knew where to go.

_Tayuya opened her weary eyes, and was met with blurriness. The last thing she remembered was collapsing onto the ground. She tried to sit up, but couldn't summon the strength. As she eyes began to focus, she saw she was in a building of some sort. Wondering how she got there, she turned her head, looking for a sign of another person. She saw a small light in another room, but found herself too weak to call out to the potential person in that room. It was then that she noticed her arm was in a sling, and her leg was in a cast. She stretched her good leg, noticing it was somewhat sore, and felt something odd. She realized she was wearing something around her waist and privates. Thinking it was some type of abdominal cast, she shifted with what little strength she had, and noticed that it wasn't anywhere near as hard as a cast, and it felt somewhat wet, crinkling slightly as she moved. _

_"I see you've woken up," She heard a voice say, "You've been asleep for two days now."_

_Tayuya turned her head to look at the voice, and saw a girl about her age, with shoulder length silver hair, and bright orange eyes, that despite mostly being hidden behind her bangs, still shone elegantly. Tayuya tried to speak, but her throat hurt too much, so she just nodded her head slowly._

_"Don't try to speak or move too much. You're still weak," The girl said, "My name is Oshime Shiruba."_

_Tayuya just nodded again, as Oshime walked over to her, and brought a cup of liquid up to her lips. _

_"Here, drink up," Oshime stated, "It's a mix of water and medicine."_

_Tayuya slowly swallowed the liquid as it entered her mouth, content that this girl was not trying to kill her. After all, she reckoned, if she really wanted to kill her, she would have just killed her while she was unconscious. The liquid seemed to soothe her throat, but the aftertaste left something to be desired. _

_"Thanks…" Tayuya managed to say, wincing._

_"It's no big deal," Oshime stated, "Now let's check on something else…"_

_Tayuya gave her a confused look, but had no time to try and ask her what she meant, as Oshime pulled the blanket off of Tayuya's body. Tayuya noticed she was wearing a plain white T-shirt, but gasped in shock at what she was wearing on the lower half of her body. She realized that it was not at all an abdominal cast, and understood why it was crinkling. _

_"What the fuck is that!?" Tayuya yelled, groaning in pain afterwards._

_"I told you not to talk too much," Oshime replied, "What you're wearing is an incontinence garment, or as you might know it, a diaper."_

_Tayuya did not respond, due to her throat pain, but shot Oshime a look of anger._

_"This cot isn't much, but I don't want it getting any wetter than it already has", Oshime stated, "I had to run to the nearest village to get these for you, while you lay in bed, wetting through the mattress."_

_Tayuya blushed at the thought that she had wet helplessly while blacked out, but then remembered that she had urinated while hobbling through the forest. Her eyes widened as she saw Oshime reach for the top-left tab of her diaper, and used her good arm to weakly try and stop her. Oshime easily swatted her hand away, not even looking at Tayuya as she undid the tab. Tayuya blushed again, but knew she was too weak to do anything to prevent the inevitable. Tayuya looked away as Oshime undid the other three tabs, and slid the sodden garment out from under her, exposing her moist privates to the cool air. Her sore body twitched in surprise as she felt a cool, wet cloth make contact with her skin, wiping away the spare urine. Tayuya tried to psyche herself up for the next part of the change, but having never changed a diaper before, had no idea what was left. She shuddered as she felt some type of powder applied to her skin, and heard a crinkle she assumed was her new diaper. She blushed as Oshime carefully taped it onto her, looking at Oshime for the first time since the change began. She noticed that Oshime was also blushing, but it faded quickly as she placed the changing supplies under the bed. _

_"Well, I'm not a medical ninja, so I don't know the extent of that abdominal injury," Oshime stated factually, "But it seems you're going to be incontinent for awhile, if not permanently."_

_"Dammit…" Tayuya said in a hoarse voice, "Just what I fucking needed…"_

_"Also, you are not going anywhere for awhile, with that leg of yours," Oshime stated, "You're welcome to stay here, as long as you need."_

_"What?" Tayuya asked, "But you put my leg in a cast, so shouldn't I be fine with some crutches?"_

_"I already told you, I'm not a medical ninja," Oshime replied, "I did what I could, but it's nowhere near good enough to have you walking around on it until it's healed."_

_Tayuya was surprised to discover that the one part of her that _didn't_ hurt was the back of her neck. She rubbed her neck, and was surprised to discover that her cursed seal wasn't there. A quick glance at her refection on the metal bar of the cot showed a bare neck, devoid of the cursed seal Orochimaru had placed there years ago. _

_"My cursed seal…" Tayuya muttered._

_"What was that?" Oshime asked._

_"Oh, nothing…" Tayuya replied._

_Tayuya sighed, and began looking around the location she was in. The room was not particularly large, nor was it well-furnished. There was nothing but the dumpy little cot, and a small, empty cupboard. There was only one door and one window in the wood-paneled room, but she could not see too well into it. _

_"This is just a small shack," Oshime said, noticing that Tayuya was looking around, "Only this room, my room, a small bathroom and an entrance area."_

_"Where are we?" Tayuya asked._

_"We're on the outskirts of the Leaf Village," Oshime stated._

_"So, why'd you build this shack here?" Tayuya asked._

_"I didn't," Oshime replied, "I founded it empty, and decided to squat here till the owners returned, but they never did."_

_"Oh, I see," Tayuya said, losing interest in the conversation, "So, what village are you from?"_

_"You should get some rest," Oshime said, getting up, "I'll make us something to eat."_

_Tayuya decided not to press the subject further, and laid back onto the cot, watching as Oshime stepped into the other room. Despite having been unconscious for a few days, Tayuya was still very tired, and found herself falling asleep not too long later._

The two kunoichi continued tree-hopping for hours, the mountains in the distance getting only slightly closer despite the length of time they spent on the move. Tayuya shuddered as she felt a familiar feeling encase her lower half, increasing the warmth she already felt from the hot air and black cloak combination.

"Hey, Oshime, hold up!" Tayuya yelled to her partner.

"No, if we want to make it today, we can't stop for anything!" Oshime yelled back.

"Yeah, But, I need to…" Tayuya shouted, trailing off.

"I know, but you'll have to wait!" Oshime responded.

"Screw you, I'm stopping!" Tayuya shouted back, coming to a halt.

"Fine…" Oshime said reluctantly, stopping a few trees in front of Tayuya.

Tayuya jumped from the tree, and landed on the forest floor below, making sure Oshime couldn't see her from where she was. It was a bit harder this deep into the dark forest, but after a couple of minutes, Tayuya managed to finish up, leaving the used item on the forest floor, as she always did. She hopped back up to Oshime's level, and nodded at her annoyed partner.

"Shut your face," Tayuya scowled, before Oshime could say anything.

Oshime just shook her head, and turned around to begin tree-hopping again. Oshime sped up to her normal speed, in the direction of the mountains. Tayuya followed close behind, still scowling.

After a couple hours, Tayuya realized that they were traveling uphill, signaling that they had reached the mountain. The sun was beginning to set, so Oshime began to speed up her tree-hopping. Tayuya, not the fastest person, struggled to keep up with her partner, quickly becoming winded from the added effort. They had started moving down the mountain, and Tayuya saw a small village in the distance. She guessed that even if they moved at their current speed, which was all but impossible for Tayuya, they still wouldn't make it there by nightfall. The look on her face told Tayuya that Oshime knew this too, but nonetheless, Oshime began to travel even faster than before. Tayuya wheezed as she tried to keep up, unable to even yell to Oshime to tell her to stop. After a few minutes at this speed, Tayuya could no longer keep going, and stopped, wheezing as she clutched her side. Oshime turned around, and saw that Tayuya had stopped.

"C'mon, we don't have time to stop!" Oshime yelled.

"I…can't…keep…going…" Tayuya wheezed, "We're not…going to make it…tonight, anyway…"

Oshime scowled, but then sighed, knowing that Tayuya was telling the truth.

"Ok, let's make camp here," Oshime said, jumping to the forest floor below.

Tayuya nodded, and jumped down to Oshime. Oshime lit a small fire, as Tayuya set up her wrinkled tent. Oshime's tent was immaculate, but Tayuya did not care about perfection, just as long as she could sleep in it. The two ate in silence, Oshime still looking annoyed that they weren't already at the village. Neither said goodnight to the other as they entered their tents, each lantern being extinguished a couple minutes later.


	4. Recovery

Chapter 4 – Recovery

Chapter 4 – Recovery

Tayuya awoke the next morning, due to something entering her tent. She groggily flung a kunai at the shadowy figure, hearing a high pitched squeal as it connected. As her tired eyes focused, the figure was revealed to have been a squirrel.

"Oops…" Tayuya said, rubbing her eyes.

She kicked the small animal's corpse out of the tent, and proceeded to change into her clothes for the day, along with changing her soiled garment. After that was done, she exited her tent, and retrieved her Akatsuki cloak and flute from the sealed case. She tossed the cloak to the side, not wanting to put it on until the last possible moment.

"You're going to ruin it, if you do that" Oshime said, exiting her tent, "We need that for our plan."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Tayuya replied, rolling her eyes, "I'm surprised you're not rushing us to leave."

"It's early" Oshime stated, "We have all day to get there, so there's no need to rush."

"Tell that to yourself from last night…" Tayuya said, "I couldn't even keep up."

"Yeah, because it was late, and I wanted to get there before the day ended." Oshime answered.

"Whatever…" Tayuya stated, "Why don't you go over the details of this heist again."

"Ugh, fine" Oshime said, shaking her head, "But this is the last time."

"Ok, ok" Tayuya said, cracking her knuckles

"Ok, we're going to the Hidden Shadow village, in order to steal their most precious object, The Stone of Shadows." Oshime said.

"Ok, and the Akatsuki cloaks?" Tayuya asked.

"We need a reason to be in the village in the first place" Oshime responded, "The Kagekage has the utmost respect for the Akatsuki, so we'll meet him pretending to be Akatsuki members, to earn his trust."

"Well, I guess that makes sense" Tayuya replied, reluctantly, "I still hate the damn thing."

Oshime rolled her eyes, and sat down next to Tayuya. She pulled a small canister from her pack, and popped it open. As she ate the contents, Tayuya ate her own. When they were finished, Oshime placed the empty can in her pack, thinking it might come in handy later. Tayuya, on the other hand, tossed hers into the forest, not caring to carry around useless baggage.

"Well, shall we go?" Oshime asked, standing up.

"Sure, let's pack up" Tayuya replied, shoving her tent into its case.

"Ugh, I swear" Oshime said, "I'm not buying you another one when that breaks."

"Shut it, lardass" Tayuya replied, "It's only a damn tent."

Oshime shook her head, and packed her own tent neatly into its case. Oshime reverse summoned the sealed case, and waited for Tayuya to struggle with her tent. After Tayuya finished, they each put their packs on, and began tree-hopping towards the village.

_Tayuya spent most of the next six weeks lying in that old cot, begrudgingly allowing Oshime to take care of her. She was embarrassed during every diaper change, but gradually became slightly less embarrassed. Oshime never seemed to mind it, never having more than the slightest blush on her face. Tayuya was surprised that her arm was almost entirely healed after just two weeks, even if it was still somewhat sore. Tayuya tried arguing with her caretaker that she could change herself now that both arms were available for use, but Oshime would have none of it. Oshime argued that she'd be more susceptible to injuring her leg even more if she tried to change herself. Tayuya knew it was a losing battle, so she spoke an obscenity, and laid back as Oshime began to change her wet diaper once again. _

_At the end of six weeks, her leg had healed enough to allow her stand, but Oshime still insisted on changing her, "just in case." Tayuya put up an argument, but Oshime shot it down, saying that Tayuya had been weakened by inactivity, and shouldn't be wasting energy on minor tasks. This lasted less than a week, as Tayuya showed Oshime that her strength was mostly there, and she could change herself. Oshime tested her by allowing her to do so, and although it was not perfect, Tayuya showed that she could adequately change herself, forcing Oshime to back down from her stance. After that show of recovery, Tayuya began training again, trying to get back her strength, everyday hoping she'd find that her bladder had healed. One night, as they were getting ready for bed, Tayuya took the initiative to speak, which was a rarity at this time of day._

_"Why did you save me?" Tayuya asked._

_"Because you were injured and needed help." Oshime answered, not even moving her head to look at Tayuya._

_"Cut me the bull, please" Tayuya answered, "Most people don't just nurse someone back to health for weeks, even going so far as to, err, change them…"_

_"If you want to know the truth" Oshime answered, "I figured I could use a partner, and I could tell that your injuries and garb were one of a kunoichi."_

_"If you needed a partner, why go for an almost dead ninja?" Tayuya asked._

_"I figured if I nursed a ninja back to health, he or she would be more likely to want to repay the debt by helping me out." Oshime responded._

_"Well, you found the wrong girl" Tayuya said, letting out a small laugh, "I don't feel as if I owe you shit."_

_"Yeah, I figured that out after the second day" Oshime replied, "But I figure you might stick around when you find out what I do."_

_"Hmm?" Tayuya said, slightly interested. _

_"I perform heists" Oshime stated, "I steal in order to pay for what I want or need."_

_"Seems pretty standard to me" Tayuya replied, "I do like money, though."_

_"Heh, well, I could use someone to help with the bigger heists." Oshime said, smiling._

_"Well, it's not like I got anywhere else to go" Tayuya said, thinking of the Sannin she once referred to as "Lord", "As long as I get fifty percent of the cut, I guess I'm in."_

_"But of course" Oshime said, "Anything else you need to be at your best?"_

_"A flute" Tayuya said, "Oh, and for my fucking bladder to work again…"_

_"Well, the first is doable" Oshime replied, trying not to laugh, "But the latter is out of my hands."_

_"Good night..." Tayuya said, glaring at Oshime._

_Oshime laughed, and left Tayuya's room, turning off the light as she exited. Tayuya pulled the covers over herself, knowing that she needed a change, but not wanting to deal with it until morning._

"We'll be there very soon." Oshime yelled back to Tayuya.

Tayuya nodded, and continued tree-jumping behind her partner. As they approached the village, Tayuya realized just how small it was. The village had no walls to defend themselves with, and even the gate at the entrance had no doors. As they stopped in front of the gate, Tayuya looked at the banner sign above the gate, depicting a headband with what must have been the village's symbol on it. The symbol was round on the left, but the right was two spikes which curved back towards the left. Tayuya couldn't help but think the shape was familiar, but had no time to ponder on it, as Oshime tugged her through the gate entrance.

"Come on, we don't want to keep the Kagekage waiting." Oshime stated, letting go of her arm.

"Right" Tayuya said, nodding.

"One more bowl of ramen, Old man!" The young shinobi yelled, pounding his fist on the table.

"Heh, right away Naruto" Teuchi said, quickly pouring a bowl of ramen for one of his best customers.

"Thanks!" Naruto said, laughing, before gulping down his food, and placing his bowl amongst the pile that was forming.

"Hey, Naruto!" A voice yelled, getting closer.

Naruto turned to look at the voice, recognizing it as his teammate Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura, wanna buy me a bowl of Ramen?" Naruto asked, smiling.

"Not now, Naruto, Lady Tsunade needs to see us." Sakura responded, resisting the urge to punch her teammate out of his seat.

"Really?" Naruto responded, "We have a mission?"

"I don't know," Sakura answered, "But we'd better hurry."

Naruto nodded, and placed some money on the counter.

"Thanks, Old man!" Naruto yelled back as he ran with Sakura towards the Hokage's office.

"Anytime!" Teuchi responded, waving at Naruto.

The two ninja made it to the Hokage's office, meeting Shizune outside the entrance to Tsunade's office. Shizune let them in right away, opening the door to the office, after greeting Sakura and Naruto. As the two entered, they saw Shikamaru waiting in front of the Hokage's desk.

"It's about time you got here" Tsunade said, looking at Naruto and Sakura.

"Sorry, Lady Tsunade" Sakura replied.

"Yeah, whatever, just give us the mission, Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto yelled.

"You've been called here today, because two Akatsuki members have been spotted in Kagegakure, a small village not far from here." Tsunade stated, ignoring the blond ninja's comment.

"The Akatsuki!" Naruto yelled. "Which ones!?"

"We don't know" Tsunade replied, "Our informant could not get close enough to see the faces of the two."

"Then what's our mission?" Shikamaru asked, "If we don't know which members, it would be reckless to just charge in. We need to choose the three ninja for this mission based upon the abilities of our opponents."

"Normally, yes, but we have no other choice but to act now, and figure out what reason they are in Kagegakure." Tsunade replied, "We were not hired by that village, so we can't afford to send our best Anbu or Jounin to figure it out."

"Ugh, what a drag…" Shikamaru said, sighing.

"You are to leave immediately" Tsunade stated, "Shikamaru, you are the leader of this mission, so I expect it to go well."

"Right" All three responded, turning around to leave.

The three quickly packed their bags, and met at the entrance to Konoha.

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled, with his usual enthusiasm.

"Calm down, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, pounding him on the head.

"Ow, that was uncalled for..." Naruto said, retying his black headband.

"Just shut up and walk." Sakura said, dragging him through the village gates.

"Ugh..." Shikamaru said, shaking his head before beginning to follow his teammates.

As they walked towards the Kagekage's manor, Tayuya looked around the small village, noticing how normal it looked. They received a few glances as they walked, most likely due to their odd clothes.

"This is it" Oshime stated, looking at an average building in front of her.

"That's it?" Tayuya asked, "It's pretty small for a Kage's manor."

"Yeah, but it's a small village" Oshime replied, "They can't afford a huge mansion, not even for their beloved Kagekage."

"Well, if they loved him so much, they'd pitch in the funds" Tayuya responded, "Not to mention give him a better title than Kagekage..."

"I swear, if you do that during our meeting..." Oshime threatened.

"I know, I know, I'll be good" Tayuya answered, rolling her eyes.

As the two approached the building, they noticed two Jounin guarding the doorway. Before Tayuya could even think of an excuse, the two Jounin nodded, and stepped out from in front of the entrance.

"But, how…?" Tayuya asked.

"I told you, the Kagekage has the utmost respect for the Akatsuki…which we of course are a part of." Oshime said, adding the latter, just in case.

"Yeah, but still..." Tayuya said, suspicious of the situation.

The two removed their sandals as they entered, and kneeled down in front of the small desk. They waited only a few seconds as a figure emerged from behind the curtains, dressed in customary Kage robes, colored black in the areas of color. The Kagekage was not a young man, sporting just a few black streaks in his shoulder length gray hair. His green eyes were quite intense, despite the wrinkles that adorned his face. His bulbous nose was in contrast to the rest of his face, which would be thin and streamlined if not for the wrinkles.

"Welcome" He stated, smiling, "To the Hidden Shadow Village"


	5. Planning

Chapter 5 - Planning

"Thank you Lord Kagekage" Oshime said, bowing.

"Yeah, er, same here" Tayuya stated, uncomfortable being formal. As Tayuya finished speaking, she felt Oshime pull her to the floor.

"You're supposed to bow!" Oshime whispered, glaring.

The Kagekage let out a booming laugh, and motioned for the two girls to sit up.

"Please, there's no need for such formality at this time" He stated, as the girls sat up.

"Ok, Lord Kagekage" Oshime replied.

"Now, then, shall we get down to business?" The elder asked.

"Yes, please" Oshime answered.

"Ok, then, first of all, what do two members of the esteemed Akatsuki need from our small, simple village?" The Kagekage asked politely.

"We only require lodging for a night or two, sir" Oshime responded.

"That's quite doable" The Kagekage replied, "Forgive me for being so questioning, but we do have our precious stone which must be protected at all costs."

"We know, sir" Oshime answered, "But if our organization was after the stone, we would first try to coerce you into giving it to us."

"And if that failed?" He asked, raising his eyebrow

"We would steal it by force, of course." Oshime said, smiling slightly.

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that you aren't after the stone" The Kagekage stated, letting out a chuckle.

"Heh, it is indeed..." Tayuya replied, trying not to smirk.

"Lord Kagekage, there is information we need to discuss." A voice from behind the curtains said.

"Certainly, Mutsuki. I'll be there in just a minute" The Kagekage replied.

Tayuya couldn't help but notice an odd look on Oshime's face as the Kagekage said that. She pushed the thought to away, thinking that Oshime was just nervous about the execution of the plan.

"I'm sorry we could not speak longer" The Kagekage said, standing up.

"We understand, sir" Oshime replied, standing up also.

Tayuya did the same, and nodded her head in agreement with Oshime.

"Now, if you please follow the Jounin outside" The Kagekage said, pointing towards one of the two Jounin they had met at the entrance way, "He will bring you two to your lodgings for the night."

"Thank you, Lord Kagekage." Oshime stated, bowing.

"It is my pleasure, Ms. Shiruba, and Miss…I'm sorry, but I don't believe I caught your name." He replied, gesturing at Tayuya.

"Tayuya...sir" She answered, thinking something was wrong, but unable to put her finger on it.

"Ah, ok then, Ms. Tayuya" He stated, "I hope that you and Ms. Shiruba find your time in our village to be pleasant."

"Thank you, sir" They both said, turning towards the Jounin from before.

The two followed the shinobi down the streets for a few minutes, before stopping in front of a small house.

"This is where you will be staying" The Jounin said, "I hope you find it to your liking."

"It looks more than adequate" Oshime replied, sincerely impressed.

"Hmm, not bad for such a dumpy village...Oof!" Tayuya stated, getting an elbow in the gut from Oshime in response.

"Yes...well, I hope you find your lodgings pleasant…" The Jounin stated, walking back towards the Kagekage's manor, giving Tayuya a slight scowl.

"And you were doing so well, too..." Oshime said, glaring at Tayuya.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Tayuya responded, "Let's just go inside. I need to take of something..."

"Aww, does wittle Tayuya need-" Oshime joked in a babyish voice, before being cut off.

"Finish that sentence, and you'll be swallowing that sword you love so much" Tayuya threatened, entering the house.

Oshime just laughed, and followed her inside, locking the door behind her.

_The first thing Tayuya did when she had healed was to sneak into the Leaf village, and steal a flute from the music store. She had used a transformation jutsu to turn herself into a seven year old girl, in order to hide her identity, and make people think is was less likely that she would be a shoplifter. After she had returned to Oshime's shack, she released the jutsu, looking down at her usual body._

_"Heh, nice one" Oshime said, standing in the doorway._

_"Well, I had to do something to hide my identity" Tayuya replied._

_"Oh? The Leaf village knows of you?" Oshime questioned._

_"Well, somewhat" Tayuya replied, "It's better if I don't bring attention to myself."_

_"True enough" Oshime responded._

_Tayuya spent the next few weeks learning the nuances of her new flute, learning how best to channel her chakra through it. Oshime, on the other hand, spent that time with a few medical books she had borrowed from the Konoha library, trying to learn about abdominal injuries. Nothing in those books gave her much hope that Tayuya would not be crinkling during their heists, but she kept at it anyway. _

_During the next few months, the two had committed a few small heists, giving them enough cash to sustain themselves, and refill the supplies for Tayuya. Tayuya had mastered her new flute by this time, and was now practicing her jutsu, and learning how to battle without help from her cursed seal. Oshime, Tayuya noticed, had been reading less and less, and had been practicing with a sword Tayuya had not known she possessed. Tayuya stared at the sword, which she had to admit was quite nice looking. The blade itself was thin and average length, with an etching of a dragon on it. The hilt of the blade was shaped like a dragon's head, with the blade protruding from its open mouth, as if the blade was its flame. The mouth was surrounded by small, sharp-looking, metal teeth, and a dragon fang/claw was attached to the bottom of the hilt. Tayuya overheard Oshime call the sword "Sui-Riu", and assumed that that was its name. _

_As the next two years passed, Tayuya and Oshime only grew stronger, performing heists that were more difficult, yet more rewarding. Tayuya was still incontinent, and had reluctantly come to terms with the fact that she would probably be incontinent for the rest of her life. Tayuya noticed that Oshime never once cut her hair during this period. When she had first met her, her hair had reached her shoulders, but after these two years, her hair was approaching the top of her rear. Tayuya had let her hair get slightly longer, but not nearly that much. Tayuya also happily noted that her chest had developed a bit more, even if it was not quite as much as Oshime had. On one afternoon, after Tayuya had finished developing her newest jutsu, Oshime approached her, sporting a look that told Tayuya that they had a new heist. _

_"Ok, Tayuya, we got a big one coming up" Oshime stated, with ferocity in her eyes unlike Tayuya had seen from her before._

_"Good, where is it?" Tayuya asked._

_"In a small village, named Kagegakure" Oshime answered, with a strange look in her eyes._

"C'mon, you two, try to keep up!" Naruto yelled to his two teammates behind him.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, tree-hopping towards him, "We can't just barge into the village at full speed!"

"Don't bother, Sakura" Shikamaru stated, shaking his head, "Naruto will never understand strategy, it's not his style."

Naruto glared at Shikamaru, but kept his silence as he continued through the forest.

"Shikamaru, what should we do first when we reach the village?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm, all I know of this village is that it is small, and without much of value" Shikamaru responded, "So I suppose the first thing we should do is speak with whatever leader the village has, since I'm sure it would be a big event in a small village for two members of the Akatsuki to enter."

"I suppose you're right" Sakura answered.

"Yeah, yeah, I say we just go search out those Akatsuki punks, so I can show them what Naruto Uzumaki is made of!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist.

"Ugh, how troublesome..." Shikamaru mumbled, shaking his head.

Tayuya and Oshime sat around the table in the dining room on the house they were allowed to stay in, planning for the heist of the stone.

"So, why'd you add the possibility of an extra night's stay here?" Tayuya asked.

"Well, I thought that vagueness might make it seem less like we have a plan for being here" Oshime answered, "Plus, it gives us an extra day, just in case we can't do the heist tonight."

"Well, makes sense, I guess" Tayuya replied, leaning back in her chair.

"Ok, now, here's the plan." Oshime started, "at about two o'clock in the morning, we will leave this house, and make our way here." She pointed at a building on the map she had drawn. "There will probably be a couple of guards there, so we will take care of them discretely, and proceed inside. The building isn't too large, so I don't expect much in the way of security except for maybe more guards."

Tayuya listened, making mental notes of Oshime's instructions. After Oshime had finished, she picked the makeshift map up, and ripped it up.

"Ok, we should get some sleep now" Oshime stated, "We don't want to be dead tired for this heist."

"Right" Tayuya said, nodding.

Both girls ascended the stairs together, and turned in opposite directions, in order to enter their respective rooms. Oshime turned around to face Tayuya, noticing Tayuya was already facing her.

"Goodnight, then" Oshime stated, "See you in a few hours."

"Yeah, let's hope it goes well" Tayuya replied, "We'd better have that stone by tomorrow morning"

"_Yeah, we'd better..._" Oshime thought to herself, before entering her room.

Neither girl changed, knowing they would just have to change back in a few hours. As they turned off their lights, both thought of the challenge ahead, hoping they'd accomplish their goal.


	6. It Begins

Chapter 6 –

Chapter 6 – It Begins

The blaring of their respective alarm clocks shocked both girls out of their slumber, reminding them that it was two in the morning. Tayuya stretched, still somewhat tired, and looked out the window. Despite it technically being the "morning", it was as dark as it could be outside. She could feel she needed a change, and felt it smart to attend to that before she met her partner outside her room. Tayuya grabbed the small bag containing her materials from its location, and set it on the bed. She grabbed the waistband of her sweatpants, and pulled them down to her ankles, exposing her sodden diaper. Sighing, she undid each tab, and slid the garment out from under her. She tossed it into the trash can near the bed, and grabbed the moist wipes from the bag. After opening the package, she grabbed a cool wipe, and slid it across her nude privates, wiping away any spare urine off her skin. Tossing the wipe in the trash, she grabbed the small bottle of powder and applied it to her skin. After she rubbed the powder in, she grabbed a fresh diaper from the bag, and sat on top of it after she unfolded it. She taped the tabs on, and pulled her sweatpants back up. She sighed again, and stood up from the bed, putting the supply bag back into her pack.

"Tayuya, you ready to do this?" Oshime asked, before knocking gently on the door.

"Yeah, hold on." Tayuya answered.

Tayuya stretched once more, and then opened the door to meet Oshime.

"Grab your pack, Tayuya." Oshime stated.

"Won't taking our packs with us hamper our abilities?" Tayuya questioned.

"Of course it will" Oshime responded, "That's why we're not taking them with us."

"Then why do you want me to grab mine?" Tayuya asked, confused.

"Do you plan on leaving it here?" Oshime asked, "Do you plan to return for it after we're wanted fugitives?"

"Oh...um, err..." Tayuya stated, not having thought of this dilemma earlier.

"You're lucky I actually use my brain..." Oshime replied, shaking her head.

"Shut it, assface!" Tayuya shouted.

"Nice comeback..." Oshime said sarcastically, "Just grab your pack and meet me downstairs."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Tayuya mumbled, grabbing her pack.

She left her room, and headed for the small den in the house. When she reached it, she noticed that Oshime was already there, holding her own pack. Tayuya placed her pack on the ground in front of her, as did Oshime. Before Tayuya could ask what her plan was, Oshime completed a familiar series of handsigns, which Tayuya recognized was used to summon their sealed container. When the slight smoke cleared, Oshime opened the waist high container, and tossed both hers and Tayuya's packs into it. She closed and sealed it, and then reverse summoned it, surprising Tayuya.

"I...never thought about that..." Tayuya stated, thinking it seemed obvious.

"Oh, really, I couldn't tell..." Oshime replied, rolling her eyes.

Tayuya glared, but before she could reply, Oshime began stating something else.

"Ok, I'm thinking we should wait about an hour before we head for the building." Oshime stated.

"What, why?" Tayuya asked.

"I think it's just better if we go over some strategies and possibilities for the next hour" Oshime replied.

"Well, I guess..." Tayuya stated, "I'd hate for us to screw this up."

"Exactly" Oshime replied, "This is without a doubt our most important heist we've ever taken on."

Tayuya nodded, and sat down on the sofa, waiting for Oshime to begin her strategy discussion. For the next hour, the two girls poured over any and all possible contingencies, not content to get caught napping. As the clock struck three, both girls nodded, and stood from their seats. Tayuya slid her Akatsuki cloak on, noticing that Oshime had been wearing hers the whole time. Oshime walked over to the door of the house and opened it, peering outside. Not seeing anybody in the darkness, Oshime gestured for Tayuya to follow her. They exited the dwelling, and made their way towards the target without a sound. Both had agreed that quiet and stealthy was better than trying to rush, so it took a bit of time for them to reach the building. As they did, they noticed two Jounin standing guard in front of it. The two girls ducked behind a bush near the entrance, and planned their next move.

"I hate the night shift..." The older Jounin said to the other one.

"Yeah, I know what you mean" The other Jounin replied, yawning.

Suddenly, the older Jounin began hearing music. It started off very light, but soon increased in volume. He looked around for a source, but not only could he not see anything, but it also seemed omni-directional.

"Hey buddy, you hear that?" He asked the other Jounin, not receiving a response.

"Hey, you hear me!?" He shouted, once again not getting an answer.

He turned around to face the younger Jounin, and let out a scream at what he saw. His partner no longer had any eyes, just empty eye sockets, and his skin was melting off of his skeleton.

"Wow, incredible Genjutsu, Tayuya." Oshime said, looking at the two Jounin standing there motionlessly with vacant looks on their faces, "They're not even reacting to the visions they're seeing."

Tayuya took her lips off of her flute, and nodded, "I figured it'd be best if they didn't make a scene out here, even if it is early in the morning."

"Agreed" Oshime responded.

The two kunoichi walked past the two stationary guards, and quickly entered the small building. Inside, was just a moderate sized room, with a small altar in the middle. On the altar lay a small, black object, which must've been the Stone of Shadows. Oshime took a shuriken out from her pouch, and threw it in such a way that it whizzed across the room just a centimeter above the ground. As she suspected, a few wire traps were activated, but not where they were standing due to the use of the shuriken. The two girls watched the groups of kunai launch at various spots around the room, littering the floor with metal. They waited a few seconds after the last kunai had struck, just in case, and proceeded to walk slowly over towards the altar. Not tripping any additional traps, the two stopped in front of the altar, and stared at the stone. It was small enough to fit in the palm of an average had, and it was obvious by looking at it that the shape of Kagegakure's symbol was based on the stone. The stone was black, yet translucent, and rounded on the bottom. The two spikes on the right side, curved just as the village's icon did, back towards the left.

"There's a good chance that there's a better trap on the altar itself" Oshime stated.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Tayuya replied, thinking of their next move.

Before Tayuya could come up with an idea, Oshime pulled a kunai from the ground, and dropped it onto the altar, making sure it lightly hit the stone. Right as the kunai made contact with the stone, it shattered into a large number of pieces, leaving naught but small metal chunks.

"Well, this is interesting..." Tayuya said, glancing at the shattered remains of the kunai.

"Yeah..." Oshime replied, thinking up a strategy.

Before Oshime could think of an idea, Tayuya had pulled her flute out, and put her lips to it.

"Tayuya, what are you doing?" Oshime asked.

Tayuya did not answer Oshime, and simply began concentrating her chakra through her flute. Instead of playing a complicated musical melody, Tayuya simply played any notes she could, as loud as possible. Oshime covered her ears, wondering what in the world her partner was doing. Oshime stared at the flute, and was amazed as a blast of air shot out of it, launching towards the stone. As it made contact, the stone was knocked off the altar, and tumbled over to the wall.

"I...was not expecting that..." Oshime stated, staring at Tayuya.

"I wasn't even sure it would work, truthfully" Tayuya admitted.

Oshime lifted another kunai off the ground, and lobbed it at the stone. It lightly made contact, but even after several seconds, nothing happened. Tayuya walked over, and hesitantly lifted it off the ground. As she did, she felt a tingling in her fingertips, and felt her stomach turn. The world began spiraling out of control, colors pouring from and towards all directions.

"_Dammit, a Genjutsu!_" Tayuya thought to herself.

She tried releasing it a couple of times, but to no avail. The world only spun faster, more colors psychedelically flying around.

"Crap, she's in a Genjutsu!" Oshime shouted, seeing Tayuya thrash across the floor, "If she can't break it on her own, it must be a strong one."

Oshime shoved Tayuya, trying to knock her out of it via force. Seeing it was no use, Oshime sighed and grabbed a kunai off the floor.

"I'm sorry, Tayuya" Oshime said, slicing Tayuya's finger with the knife.

Tayuya yelled as the world slowed down, the extra color fading away. She felt the tremendous pain, and used it to break the Genjutsu on her. Tayuya panted as she stood up from the floor, still clutching the stone in her hands, realizing that she had wet while she was affected.

"I thought that might happen" Tayuya stated, dusting herself off.

"Then why'd you do it?" Oshime asked.

"I'm much better at breaking Genjutsu than you are, Oshime" Tayuya replied.

"True, but still..." Oshime responded.

"Don't worry, I'm fine now." Tayuya said, "So let's get out of here."

"What about the guards outside?" Oshime asked, "Are they still under your Genjutsu?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that." Tayuya answered.

Oshime nodded, but still decided to open the door outside slowly. She saw the two Jounin standing there, the vacant looks still on their face. Oshime gestured to Tayuya, who followed her outside.

"Umm, how long are they going to be in that Genjutsu?" Oshime asked, actually looking concerned.

"No more than 3 days" Tayuya replied, "Well, ok, maybe a week. But no more than two..."

Oshime tried to think of a response to convey how insane that was, but could not find the words to adequately convey her feelings. Instead of pressing the subject, Oshime took a quick glance in each direction, looking for any sign of people about. She noticed no signs of trouble, but did notice the faintest hint of sunlight peering over the horizon, and was surprised at how early the sun rose in this village.

"Ok, Tayuya, now we go, as fast as possible." Oshime said.

"Right" Tayuya said, "I can almost smell our victory."

Both girls nodded, and began running towards the entrance to the village. As they got further from the building that once housed the stone, the bushes to the side began rustling, and a figure emerged from within.

"Well, looks like my prize has been snatched from under me..." The figure spoke, "No matter. That stone, and its power _will _be mine…"

"Naruto, it's late!" Sakura yelled, "We should wait till morning before reaching the village."

"And let the Akatsuki get away!?" Naruto shouted back, "No way!"

"But, Naruto-!" Sakura replied, before being cut off.

"Sakura, Naruto may be right for once." Shikamaru said, cutting Sakura off, "We don't know why the Akatsuki are even in the Shadow Village, so we can't run the risk of them slipping through our fingertips."

"That's true, I guess" Sakura responded.

"Besides, we weren't hired by the Village, so while it would be a good idea, we are under no obligation to immediately visit the leader." Shikamaru stated, matter-of-factly, "It would be a good idea for us to investigate the Village for how ever many hours until we can arrange a meeting with the leader."

"Ha!" Naruto shouted, beaming, "And you doubted my intelligence, Sakura."

"Knock it off, both of you!" Shikamaru demanded, quite unlike his usual demeanor.

Naruto and Sakura stayed quiet for the next few hours, while the trio tree-hopped towards their destination. As they came closer to the gate, Shikamaru noticed that the sun was just beginning to rise.

"_Sunrise, already?_" He thought to himself.

When they approached the entrance gate, the three looked around, not seeing any villagers up and about yet. Just as they entered, Naruto pointed to the left.

"It's them!" He yelled, pointing at two figures wearing the standard Akatsuki robes.

"Who was that!?" Tayuya yelled to Oshime, realizing that the voice was somewhat familiar, yet unable to place it.

Tayuya and Oshime turned to look, just as Shikamaru and Sakura did the same.

"Fuck!" Tayuya shouted, recognizing two of the faces. They had, of course, aged a couple of years, but that was undoubtedly the blond kid and the shadow brat that helped beat her in that incident over two years ago.

"T-that redhead..." Shikamaru stammered, not believing his eyes, "It can't be..."

"Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Naruto, look at the redhead" Shikamaru stated, "Don't you recognize her?"

"Actually, now that you mention it..." Naruto replied, trying to place the face onto a figure from his past.

"It's that flute girl..." Shikamaru responded, "Tayuya, I believe...but she should be dead..."

"Huh...?" Naruto asked, "Wait...Oh yeah, I remember her!"

"Tayuya, do you know them?" Oshime asked, curious.

"H-he's the one I fought almost three years ago..." Tayuya said, pointing at Shikamaru, "That fucker and his whore almost killed me, and they're the reason I'm incont…" She drifted off, not wanting to finish that sentence.

"Well, what are they doing here?" Oshime asked.

"Damned if I know" Tayuya responded, "But I have a feeling this isn't coincidence..."

"Same here" Oshime replied.

"That flute girl is in the Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, "I thought she was one of Orochimaru's goons?"

"Yeah, and I don't recognize that silver-haired one, either" Shikamaru stated.

"Let's go!" Tayuya stated, turning around to run from the three Leaf ninja.

"Right!" Oshime shouted, right behind her.

"After them!" Shikamaru yelled, beginning the chase.

"Right!" Both Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison, following them.

"Ok, what's the plan?" Tayuya asked Oshime.

"First, we ditch these Akatsuki robes, as they'll only slow us down" Oshime said.

"Finally!" Tayuya said, tearing hers off, and tossing it behind her as she ran.

"I figured you'd like that" Oshime responded, pulling hers off, and revealing the dragon cloak she usually wore.

"You…wore another cloak under the Akatsuki one...?" Tayuya asked, shaking her head.

"Heh, you know I like my dragon cloak..." Oshime said, rubbing the back of her head.

A kunai flying right past their faces reminded the two girls that they were in the middle of a chase.

"Crap! Ok, on my word, we split up" Oshime said, "You veer left, and I'll veer right, got it?"

"Yeah" Tayuya said, nodding.

"Also, give me the stone" Oshime said, "Since they know you already, they'll probably be more inclined to chase you."

Tayuya nodded, and slipped Oshime the stone, who slid it into a pocket inside her cloak.

"Ok, then…NOW!" Oshime yelled, jumping to the right immediately, seeing Tayuya do the same thing, but in the other direction.

"They're splitting up!" Sakura shouted.

"Naruto, follow the one with the silver hair!" Shikamaru shouted to his blond teammate, "Sakura, you and me will follow after Tayuya!"

"Right!" Naruto yelled, turning towards the right, and chasing after Oshime.

Sakura nodded, and followed Shikamaru in the direction of the flute-wielding kunoichi. Tayuya had no idea where she was heading, but she had a feeling that no matter where it was, a battle was going to be imminent. She let out a loud curse as she saw a large rock wall approaching her in the distance, impeding her progress.

"We've got her!" Sakura shouted, "She's trapped!"

"It looks like it" Shikamaru replied, "But keep your guard up."

Tayuya stopped almost twenty feet in front of the wall, unsure of her next action. She simply stared at her two pursuers, who had stopped fifteen feet behind her. She grabbed her flute from its holster on her belt, and pulled it out.

"_Well, looks like this is about to get interesting..._" Tayuya thought to herself, placing her flute to her lips.

Oshime, on the other hand, currently found herself being chased by four Narutos, which she assumed were clones. To her surprise, they grabbed each other, and threw each other towards Oshime, each using the momentum of the previous to increase their velocity. By the time the final Naruto flung himself, he was traveling faster than Oshime could run.

"Take this!" Naruto yelled, aiming his fist at Oshime's face.

Oshime drew her sword in order to block the punch, but wasn't sure she could do so in time.

"A sword!" Naruto shouted, his fist sore from hitting the metal at such speed.

"_Well, looks like this is about to get interesting..._" Oshime thought to herself, gripping Sui-Rui in her usual stance.


	7. The Battle Begins

Chapter 7 –

Chapter 7 – The Battle Begins

Tayuya assessed the surroundings, determining her next move. She could tell by the look on Shikamaru's face, that he was doing the same. She came to realize that there would be no escape from this battle, and began to plan.

"_Dammit!_" She thought to herself, "_With the shadows of these mountains enveloping this village, his Shadow Jutsus should be much more potent!_"

"_Dammit!_" Shikamaru thought, "_The shadows of these mountains are too light for me to take advantage of!_"

Sakura stood there, waiting for someone to make the first move. The following seconds of inactivity felt like hours to her, but suddenly she saw her opponent make a move.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Tayuya yelled, slamming her hand to the ground.

After the smoke cleared, Sakura saw three large figures standing menacingly behind Tayuya. Shikamaru recognized the three demons, known as the Doki, from the last time they had fought. He noticed, however, that they were slightly larger, and a bit more intimidating. Just as before, one was armless with pins protruding from his bandaged head, one had a massive metal club, and one had a couple of spikes attached to his hands. Nonetheless, he knew how best to deal with them, having done so in the past. As Tayuya began to play a simple melody on her flute, the three Doki stood up straight, ready to attack. Sakura took this opportunity to launch a few kunai and a half dozen shuriken at Tayuya, assuming that concentrating on her flute would make her an easier target to hit. This theory was disproven, as Tayuya easily dodged the projectiles, not even missing a note. The Doki leapt over their commander, at began to charge at the two leaf ninja.

"Sakura, watch out!" Shikamaru yelled.

"I see them!" Sakura shouted, getting into position.

Shikamaru dodged the Arm-spike Doki that was about to hit him, and placed his hands in the correct handsign position for Shadow Possession.

"_If I ensnare all three, she'll have no choice but to reverse summon them_" Shikamaru thought, "_But even if I only capture one, I can use it to fight back_"

Shikamaru extended his shadow from himself, and quickly caught the shadow of the Doki in front of him. He lifted his fist, causing the demon to do the same. He turned, and swung his fist through the air. The Doki did the same, laying a strong punch on the armless Doki. The downed Doki quickly got up, and attacked its brethren using its head. The controlled Doki fell over, causing Shikamaru to tumble also. Sakura took this opportunity to run towards Tayuya, not trying to fight the summoned creatures. As she approached Tayuya, the massive club of the remaining Doki smashed into the ground in front of her. Sakura halted before she ran into it, and watched as the demon lifted it back into the air. Sakura dodged to the side as the club once again was slammed towards her. Tayuya, still playing her melody, jumped backwards for safety, now just ten feet from the cliff face.

"Take this!" Sakura shouted, punching the Doki in the shin with her strength.

The demon stumbled slightly, but did not seem to have been fazed much by the punch. Sakura noticed this, and jumped backwards, barely avoiding being crushed by the club. As the club collided with the earth, Sakura leapt on top of it and launched herself at the Doki's face by strengthening her legs. Channeling as much chakra as she could, Sakura punched the demon in the face. This time, the Doki was affected a bit worse, falling backwards. Sakura took this opportunity to grab the handle of the metal club, managing to pull it away from the demon. Using her strength to lift it, she swung at the beast, knocking it in the head with a sickening crunch. Despite the sound, the Doki cracked its neck back into position and swung its fist at Sakura. She managed to block the punch with the club, albeit awkwardly.

"He's still got some fight in him" Sakura mumbled to no one in particular.

Shikamaru was once again tumbling across the ground, mimicking the motions of the ensnared Doki. He stood up, causing the demon to do the same. Before the armless Doki could attack again, Tayuya's melody changed. Shikamaru recognized the difference in music, and prepared himself.

"Sakura!" He shouted, "Watch out!"

Sakura turned to look at the Doki she had been clobbering, and watched as it opened its mouth. From inside its mouth, white, ethereal material poured out, covered in numerous mouths. Sakura looked, and noticed the same ghostly material pouring out of the other two Doki.

"Don't let it touch you!" Shikamaru yelled, remembering its chakra-draining effect from before.

Sakura tried to dodge it as snaked through the air towards her, but the large club inhibited her movements slightly. The ghost managed to pass through her arm, and Sakura could feel it absorbing her chakra. She shuddered as it exited, taking some of her chakra with it. Before she had time to think, it twisted around and traveled back towards her. Sakura managed to dodge completely this time, even though she was still carrying the large weapon. Deciding it would be a bad idea to drop the weapon and allow the demon to take possession of it again, she held onto it, even if it meant it would be harder to dodge.

"Dammit!" Shikamaru shouted, "We need to stop her!"

Even though Shikamaru had control of one of the Doki, its ghost was still under Tayuya's control, which meant Shikamaru was having trouble fighting the armless monster with the ensnared one. To his surprise, the Doki ghost of the armless Doki did not seem to want to directly attack him, as the ghost of the ensnared one did. It seemed to just sit there, turning around as if it was looking for something. Before Shikamaru could contemplate what it was after, it dove for the ground between Shikamaru and the captured Doki.

"That's it!" Shikamaru shouted, realizing what it was after, but unable to do anything.

The ghost passed through the ground on the path where Shikamaru's shadow was lying. As it passed through, it "ate" the chakra in the shadow, canceling the Shadow Possession Jutsu. The now free Doki turned to attack Shikamaru, but the young shinobi managed to dodge its fierce punch. Shikamaru resumed the handsign for the Shadow Possession Jutsu, this time hoping to grab both Doki. Before his shadow reached the shadows of the demons, he heard Tayuya's melody change again, this time only slightly.

"Phantom Envelop!" She shouted.

Shikamaru watched as the Doki ghosts froze for a second, and then wrapped themselves around their respective demons. As they did, Shikamaru saw the Doki underneath become transparent, causing them to no longer cast shadows. Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he retracted his shadow, beginning the process of creating another strategy. Sakura, on the other hand, noticed that the club passed right through the Doki while it was enveloped by the ethereal beast. After a couple more seconds, the ghosts released their Doki, and went back to simply trying to pass through the leaf ninja. Shikamaru made note of this, but knew they could simply re-envelop the Doki if he tried Shadow Possession again. Shikamaru spent the next several minutes dodging the Doki and the ghosts, strategizing. Sakura was getting tired, but managed to land a hit every few swings of the club. She could see that the Doki she had been battling had scrapes and bruises across its face. She figured she was at least making progress, even if the Doki was not bleeding, although she wasn't even sure if it had blood.

"_Ok, it's now or never_" Shikamaru thought to himself.

He jumped behind the armless Doki as the other launched a punch in his direction. He quickly wrapped a few Shadow Tendrils around the armless one, preventing it from dodging as the other Doki's fist collided with its face. Shikamaru heard a sickening sound as the spikes of the Doki passed through the face of the other one. To Shikamaru's surprise, a cloud of smoke surrounded the armless Doki, revealing it to be missing when the smoke cleared. Shikamaru realized that it had taken severe enough damage that it was reverse summoned despite Tayuya's wishes. The annoyed look on the flute-wielder's face told Shikamaru that his theory was correct.

"_Well, that's one down..._" He thought to himself, planning his next move.

As the other Doki tried to punch him, he dodged. The ghost used this opportunity to launch itself at him. Right before it reached him, Shikamaru smiled and disappeared via the Substitution Jutsu, leaving a log covered in tags in his place. The tags took no time to activate, creating a small explosion in that area. The Doki took little damage from the small blast, and tried to search for Shikamaru. Tayuya quickly realized his plan, and changed her melody to compensate. The ghosts wrapped around the two Doki, but it was too late. The Doki stood paralyzed, once again ensnared by Shikamaru's shadow. The ghost stopped wrapping around, and dove for the ground and the boy's extended shadow. Before it reached, Shikamaru took his own fist and brought it up to neck as fast as possible, stopping just centimeters in front of his neck. The Doki mimicked his actions, but because of the two spires attached to his arm, stopping just in front of his neck caused the spikes to stab the beast directly through the neck. With a roar, the Doki was reverse summoned, leaving just the one Sakura was facing.

"_Dammit!_" Tayuya thought to herself, not breaking the melody.

Sakura could feel herself tiring, but noticed that she still hadn't done much more than minor damage to the demon she was fighting. Shikamaru rushed over to his teammate in order to help her. As he reached her, Sakura summoned all her strength in her legs, and jumped high into the air, taking the club with her. As the Doki and Tayuya looked up at the pink haired kunoichi, Shikamaru captured the demon in his Shadow Possession. Tayuya noticed this, mentally cursing herself for falling for the diversion. Sakura dropped down from the sky, slamming the club into the Doki's head with all the strength she could muster. Mere milliseconds after the sickening crunch, the Doki vanished in a puff of smoke. Tayuya stopped playing her music, staring at her opponents as she moved the flute from her lips.

"Don't think I'm done yet!" Tayuya shouted.

Oshime gripped Sui-Riu, and stared at her opponent, waiting for his next move. Naruto grabbed a few kunai from his pouch, and threw them at Oshime. Oshime deftly sliced them in half, her sword clanging against the metal knives as she did.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, kid" Oshime stated.

"Heh, just you wait!" Naruto shouted back.

Naruto brought his hands together in the usual handsign, as five shadow clones appeared behind him in a puff of smoke.

"_That Shadow Clone Jutsu is very chakra consuming_" Oshime thought to herself, "_Either this kid has got a massive supply of chakra, or he's the biggest idiot I've ever met._"

The five Narutos rushed towards Oshime, while one stayed behind. Oshime began channeling chakra through her sword, preparing a jutsu.

"Moon Dragon Lance!" Oshime shouted, as Sui-Riu's blade turned a pale blue color.

Oshime stabbed the blade into the ground, causing the blue glow to fade. Naruto watched, wondering what that did. As the clones closed in on Oshime, the ground rumbled slightly, as blades resembling Sui-Riu jutted from the ground in a trail. Oshime held her hands on Sui-Riu's handle, continuing to pour chakra into the sword to continue the jutsu. Oshime controlled the trail of jutting blades, hitting all five clones, destroying them in a puff of smoke. She moved the trail towards the real Naruto, who had no time to move as a blade stabbed itself through his chest. At least, it should have, if that Naruto hadn't vanished like the others.

"A clone!?" Oshime shouted, surprised.

She looked around for any traces of the real Naruto, and was amazed as the small rock under her quivered, before transforming into the young shinobi and launching an uppercut towards Oshime. She had no time to dodge it, but she managed to divert the blow to her shoulder, instead of her chin. As she was lifted into the air, she managed to keep her grip on her sword, pulling it out of the ground as she ascended.

"He tricked me by keeping a clone back, and used a clever transformation..." Oshime muttered, "I guess I underestimated him"

Oshime landed on her feet, as elegantly as she could. She began to pump more chakra into her blade, making sure not to give Naruto an opportunity for another transformation. Naruto watched her, wondering what her next move was. As he watched, he saw her blade lengthen by a few inches, and prepared for another jutsu.

"Infernal Hell Blade!" She shouted, holding out her sword.

Sui-Riu's "mouth" opened a bit wider, and flames spewed from it, reaching the tip of the lengthened blade exactly. The blade began to glow a bright red color underneath the flames, obviously becoming incredibly hot due to the blaze. Naruto, thinking this was just the preparation for the jutsu, waited to determine his course of action. He was surprised as Oshime then rushed at Naruto, faster than he was expecting. Naruto managed to dodge, but he could feel the skin on his leg get burnt slightly just by being close to the blade and its flames. Naruto had no time to think of a plan, as Oshime relentlessly began swinging her heated blade at him, giving him a few cuts and burns as he managed to dodge slightly. Oshime pumped a bit more chakra into her blade, and swung again, this time causing a bit of fire to propel itself towards Naruto. He did his best to avoid the flame, but got hit in the left hand by it.

"Ah!" He yelled, feeling his skin burn.

He landed awkwardly on the ground, panting and trying to push the pain out of his mind. Oshime was also winded, tired from all the expended energy. Nonetheless, Oshime added more chakra to her blade, and held it out again.

"Infernal Hell Dragon!" She shouted, plunging her blade into the ground.

Despite his usual slowness, Naruto realized that that name was just a combination of the other two jutsu names. Sure enough, red-hot blades began jutting from the ground in a trail heading towards Naruto. As each blade rose from the ground, and burst of fire was released from it. Naruto ran, but noticed that the trail was just as fast as he was. Oshime continued pouring chakra into her blade as she continued chasing Naruto with the trail. Naruto did the necessary handsigns and created a half dozen more clones. The clones picked Naruto up, and began running towards the trail. Just before three of the clones were impaled by blades, they threw Naruto and the remaining three clones towards Oshime. Two of the clones spun the other two Narutos and released them towards Oshime. The two clones fell after throwing the other two, disappearing as they landed on some of the protruding blades. The remaining two Narutos, one a clone and the other the real one, flew towards Oshime. The clone Naruto began making odd motions around the hand of the real one, as chakra began to build up. Oshime had no idea what was happening, but knew it could not be good for her. Oshime pulled Sui-Riu out of the ground, and held it out to block whatever blow might be coming. The clone vanished as it finished its job, a ball of spiraling chakra sitting in the hand of the real Naruto.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, slamming the chakra ball into Oshime's sword.

Oshime could feel its strength, knowing she could not hold it at bay for much longer. She noticed, however, that the ball of chakra could not sustain itself for much longer either. Just as the sphere collapsed, Oshime lost the battle of strength, Sui-Riu being knocked from her hands and landing a couple of feet away. Both ninja stared at each other silently, each planning their next move.

"Don't think I'm done yet!" Oshime shouted.


	8. Rival Entrapment & Bladed Dragon Edge

**Chapter 8 – Rival Entrapment & Bladed Dragon Edge**

Shikamaru and Sakura stood about ten feet in front of their opponent, waiting for her next move. Shikamaru remembered his previous battle with the redhead, and was preparing for the second level of her cursed seal to make itself apparent to him. He did notice, however, that the first level of cursed seal was not active while she was controlling the Doki, as it was in their first battle. Tayuya, on the other hand, was preparing her next move, knowing that she did not have the power of her cursed seal to draw from. She slid her flute into its holster, and grabbed a few kunai, launching them towards Shikamaru. The shinobi was a bit surprised, but still managed to mostly dodge the incoming knives, .only receiving a minor cut in the shoulder.

"I guess that flute isn't your only weapon anymore." Shikamaru stated.

"Heh, I've learned a thing or two" Tayuya replied, "But you still suck as much as you did a couple years ago, dumbass."

"We'll see about that..." Shikamaru responded, analyzing the situation.

"I don't think we need to" Tayuya said, smirking, "You even brought another whore with you. What happened, the other bitch tired of doing your dirty work?"

"Why, you stupid piece of..." Sakura stated, clenching her fists.

"Sakura, she's just trying to get us angry in order to break our concentration!" Shikamaru shouted, "Just ignore it, or you'll fall into her trap."

"R-right..." Sakura responded, trying to allay her anger.

Sakura, hoping it would help with her anger, took that opportunity to launch a few more shuriken and kunai at Tayuya, who dodged even easier than before, not having to worry about keeping her melody going. Shikamaru smiled confidently, and quickly launched a Shadow Tendril at Tayuya. Tayuya gasped, but had no way to avoid the tendril while airborne. She reached for her flute to attempt to fight the advancing tentacle off, but it wrapped itself around her ankle before she could. Shikamaru mentally yanked the tendril downwards, pulling Tayuya down with it. Tayuya audibly cursed as she slammed into the ground, making sure not to lose hold of her flute. She felt the Shadow Tendril release its hold on her ankle, and making its way back to her owner. She stood up, and wiped the dirt off herself, unable to shake the feeling that something was off. She looked at her opponents, but instead of seeing looks of determination or confidence like she was expecting, she saw the boy with a raised eyebrow, and the kunoichi with a look of complete bewilderment. Tayuya was confused as to why, until she realized why something felt off before. She stared down, and blushed deeply, despite her usual personality.

"Fuck!" She shouted, staring down.

When the tendril had pulled her down from the air, it had also yanked her sweatpants down just enough to reveal the entirety of her diaper, which would have been embarrassing enough, if it hadn't been for the fact that it was also sopping wet. Tayuya quickly yanked her pants back up to their usual location, still blushing.

"_Well, I wasn't expecting that..._" Shikamaru thought to himself, strategizing how to use this information against her.

Sakura, on the other hand, began laughing uproariously, pointing at Tayuya as she did.

"I feel bad fighting her now. I don't want to beat up a baby!" Sakura taunted, still laughing.

"Sh-shut up, you stupid whore!" Tayuya shouted, her blood boiling.

"Aww, baby's cranky. She must want that wet diaper changed." Sakura joked, seeing her opponent's anger increase.

"Fuck you, you stupid bitch!" Tayuya yelled, having to restrain how much she clenched her fists, lest she crush her flute.

Tayuya's face suddenly changed from pure loathing to a small smirk, as an idea formed in her head. She put her lips to her flute, mentally choosing the notes she would use to activate her chosen jutsu. Shikamaru saw Tayuya prepare some music, and remembered her mastery of genjutsu.

"Sakura, cover your ears!" Shikamaru yelled, using two shadow tendrils to plug his own ears.

Sakura, still laughing somewhat, didn't hear what Shikamaru had shouted. She suddenly began to hear music, and looked over at Tayuya wondering what jutsu she was planning. Unlike her other melody, this one was very calming, almost like a lullaby. Sakura listened, but did not see any apparent effects at all. In fact, everything felt so calm and tranquil to her. The world began to fade around her, leaving her in an empty, black void.

"It must be a genjutsu." Sakura stated, placing her hands together, "Release!" She shouted, as she had learned years ago.

She could feel the chakra in her alter due to the release of the genjutsu, and saw the black void begin to shimmer, as something began coming into focus. Sakura was expecting the battlefield to reveal itself, but instead she noticed something else. When the entirety of the black had faded, she realized she was in a nursery. Not only that, but the furniture in the room was large enough to be of use to someone of her size, while the windows and door were of normal size. Sakura quickly looked herself over, noticing that she was still her teenage self, and began realizing that this must have been another genjutsu. She tried release once again, but she opened her eyes to reveal she was still in the large nursery.

"Dammit!" Sakura shouted, "What the hell am I going to do!?"

Before Sakura could contemplate any further, the door began to open. A figure walked in, with long blond hair, with some of it coming down her face to cover her right eye.

"I-Ino!?" Sakura shouted, "What are you doing here!?"

Instead of answering, Ino merely walked over to her rival and gave an uncharacteristic smile.

"How's my Sakura this morning?" Ino cooed, a large smile on her face.

Sakura, too stunned to answer, stood still for a couple of seconds. Ino just continued to smile, looking Sakura directly into the eye. Suddenly, Ino grabbed Sakura, lifting her in the air in a surprising feat of strength.

"H-Hey!" Sakura yelled, squirming in Ino's arms.

Ino's impressive strength managed to keep Sakura restrained, despite her struggling. Ino casually walked over to the table on the side of the room, and laid Sakura down on it. Sakura tried to sit up, but herself unable to. She looked around for any restraints but found none, assuming this was an affect of the genjutsu. She was still able to move her arms and legs a bit, so she swung them as much as she could, hoping Ino would take the hint. Ino simply smiled at her, and reached for her skirt.

"H-hey!" Sakura shouted, "What are you doing!?"

Ino once again ignored her, pulling Sakura's skirt down her legs, and off of her. Sakura tried to struggle even more, but couldn't prevent Ino from doing the same to her shorts, exposing her pale orange panties. Sakura began yelling louder at Ino, throwing a few vulgar words at her.

"Sakura, stop fidgeting and yelling" Ino demanded, surprising Sakura.

Sakura felt something in her head that told her to be a good girl and listen to Ino, but she shook it off and continued the verbal assault and kicking.

"That's it, young lady." Ino stated, looking angry, "I warned you not to be naughty, but you didn't listen."

Sakura was a bit surprised at Ino's warning, and even more surprised when Ino lifted her off the table, carrying her over to the small chair in the corner. Sakura tried to use her shirt to cover her underwear, but found it was not long enough to be of any use. Ino sat down in the chair, and sprawled Sakura over her lap, her rear facing up.

"Huh?" Sakura mumbled, "What are you going to do!?"

Ino did not answer, and instead, reached down and pulled Sakura's panties down to her ankles, exposing her bare rear. Sakura blushed, and futilely tried to struggle against her peer's new strength. An idea formed in her mind, and she painfully bit her own arm, hoping that the pain would break the genjutsu. After she opened her eyes, she was disappointed to discover herself still in the genjutsu.

"Maybe this will teach you to listen to your Mommy" Ino stated, raising her hand in the air.

Sakura was too scared of the impending spanking to notice what Ino had called herself. As Ino brought her hand down, Sakura realized that her strength was not solely to pick her up, crying out after the first hit. Ino raised her hand once again, and brought it down quickly onto Sakura's already red behind. Sakura yelled out again, tears beginning to stream down her face. Ino ignored the screams, and spanked her again, hand already sore from the impacts. Sakura tried her hardest to get away, but received no results other than another strong smack to her rear. Thinking that it might end the spanking, Sakura stopped squirming, hoping for some mercy from her childhood friend.

"One more should be enough" Ino stated, raising her hand in the air.

Sakura grimaced, trying to brace herself for the incoming pain. Ino brought her hand down harder than the other times, eliciting a scream and more tears from the pink-haired girl.

"Shh, it's ok" Ino cooed to Sakura, lifting her off the chair, and carrying her back to the table, making sure to carry her without putting pressure on her sore, warm rear.

Sakura managed to stop her tears as Ino held her, somehow feeling comforted by Ino's warmth. Sakura was snapped out of her daze as Ino laid her back down onto the table from before. Sakura did not care that her bare privates were now entirely visible to her rival, all she cared about was the immense pain she felt from her sore rear as it made contact with the soft, but not nearly soft enough, table.

"Now that you're going to behave, Mommy Ino can get baby changed" Ino cooed, grabbing something from the compartments below the table.

Sakura stared in surprise, wondering what Ino meant. She assumed it had something to do with the removal of half her clothes, but was not expecting what Ino placed onto the table. Based on the room she was in, Sakura reckoned she should not have been as surprised as she was, but just seeing the large diaper and changing supplies laid onto the table shocked her nearly senseless.

"I-I'm not wearing that!" Sakura shouted, "I'm not a baby!"

Ino just ignored her, and grabbed a bottle of cream to her side. Ino easily flipped Sakura over, so her red rear was facing to the ceiling. Sakura, scared she was about to receive another spanking, tried to flip herself back over. Sakura heard the sound of a bottle squirting, and felt Ino's hands begin to rub her backside gently, coated in some type of cream. Sakura calmed down, thinking that the cool cream felt good on her sore behind. After Ino had finished, she gently flipped Sakura over, so her rear was back in the table. Sakura noticed that it still sore, but not blindingly painful, assuming it was an affect of the cream. Sakura then remembered that Ino was attempting to diaper her, and tried to get up. She once again found herself unable to even sit up, despite the lack of restraints, and quickly calmed down when she noticed a look of impatience beginning to grow on Ino's face. Sakura sighed, knowing she could do nothing but wait for the genjutsu to end or for Shikamaru to break her out of it. Ino's look of anger dissipated as Sakura calmed down, reverted back to a smile.

"Ok, then, now to get Baby Sakura into a nice clean diaper." She cooed, sprinkling baby powder onto Sakura's bare privates.

As Ino gently rubbed the powder in, Sakura blushed deep enough to make a tomato seem colorless. Sakura tried to look away, but overwhelming curiosity forced her to watch, blushing all the while. Ino then grabbed Sakura's ankles, and lifted her legs off the table, her rear following suit. She lowered the girl back down after having slid the unfolded diaper under her, quickly pulling the front over and taping it up. Sakura could not help but notice that the thick, soft diaper felt nice against her sore rear. She examined her new attire, and noticed that instead of the common adult diapers she had seen while assisting Lady Tsunade in the medical clinic, she was wearing what was simply an oversized baby diaper, decorated with mini-Leaf village icons, made to look like they were drawn sloppily with different colored crayons. Sakura blushed more as she shifted, and truly got a feeling for how thick the diaper was. She tried sitting up, and was surprised to find herself able to do so. She reached for the tabs of the diaper, hoping Ino would not notice if she removed it. She was surprised to find that the tabs would not come undone, no matter how hard she tugged.

"Damn genjutsu..." She muttered, crossing her arms.

She realized how childish that pose looked, and blushed before realizing that the large diaper made any attempts to look older than two or three as futile as undoing the tabs.

"Is somebody thirsty?" Ino asked rhetorically, cheerful enough to make Sakura want to vomit.

Not waiting for an answer, Ino pulled out a baby bottle of milk from seemingly nowhere, causing Sakura to repeat the now-common activity of turning her face cheeks as red as her rear ones. She knew she had no choice but to drink from the bottle, but the idea still embarrassed her.

"Oopsie..." She heard Ino state, causing Sakura to look over.

Sakura saw that she had dropped the bottle, causing the nipple to pop off and spill milk all over the floor. Sakura smiled at this, hoping it meant that she wouldn't have to drink from the bottle, even though she was actually slightly thirsty.

"Hmm, well it's a good thing Mommy has a back-up plan." Ino said, smiling.

Sakura looked at her inquisitively, but became stunned at what she did next. Sakura would have fallen over if she was not already sitting down, as she watched Ino begin to unbutton her purple top. After letting that fall to the floor, Ino quickly undid her bra, and dropped it to the side. After all that had gone on in the past ten to fifteen minutes, Sakura should not have thought this to be so strange, but she could not help but stare as Ino so easily stripped topless. Sakura tried to figure out why she would do such a thing, and call it a backup to a dropped bottle of milk. After a few seconds, Sakura's metaphorical gears turned, and the hamster's wheel turned enough for Sakura to put two and two together. As it dawned on her, her jaw dropped, and she stared, too stunned to react when Ino lifted her off the table. Sakura snapped out of her daze, and tried to fight off Ino, but even her advanced strength was no match for Ino. Sakura once again felt the warmth of Ino's body calm her down, as Ino slid Sakura's mouth right up against her nipple.

"Drink up baby." Ino stated, warmly.

Sakura knew she should be repulsed, but the warmth of Ino's body felt so nice, and she _was_ thirsty. The kunoichi slowly brought her lips around Ino's nipple, feeling a spurt of warm milk reward her for doing so. The suckling motion came easy to her, finding herself drinking the sweet milk quickly. She soon finished the liquid in the left breast, and latched onto the right one before Ino could move her over. After just minutes, she had finished off that breast, too. Sakura was still somewhat thirsty, but knew Ino no longer had anything to give her. Sakura looked into Ino's eyes and smiled a goofy smile as a bit of drool rolled down her chin. Ino lifted Sakura over her shoulder, and gently pat her back until Sakura let out a burp.

"There we go" The blond kunoichi cooed, smiling.

Sakura shook off the daze, and blushed at how she reacted just seconds before.

"It must be this stupid genjutsu..." Sakura stated, annoyed she was still trapped in an illusion.

Ino sat Sakura onto the changing table, and surprised the girl by sticking two fingers into the waistband of her diaper.

"Hmm, still dry" Ino said, smiling.

Sakura blushed, but was happy that at least she had stayed dry for now, although she doubted Ino would let her use the toilet when the time came.

"Nap time, my precious baby girl." Ino said, lifting Sakura into her arms.

Sakura did not think she needed a nap, but as she was brought up towards Ino's body, she felt herself get tired. Ino smiled as she laid Sakura gently into the large crib, tucking her in next to the big stuffed bear.

"Good night, sweetie." Ino said cheerily, kissing Sakura on the head.

Sakura blushed at the kiss, and yawned afterward. Ino smiled, and turned on the mobile above the crib. The small kittens rotated slowly, as a melody gently spread through the room. Sakura was mesmerized for a second, and then realized that the melody coming from the mobile was the tune Tayuya was playing on her flute. In fact, it wasexactly what Tayuya was playing, coming directly from her flute. Sakura stared at the mobile as Ino left the nursery, feeling a warmth in her head as she listened to the music. She could feel a pressure in her bladder, but as she watched the kitties spin, the feeling vanished, being replaced by the feeling of a wet diaper. Sakura did not care, however, because Mommy would change her later. Mommy liked doing things for her, and Sakura loved having Mommy do things for her. Sakura stuck her thumb in her mouth and gently sucked on it as she drifted off into sleep.

Shikamaru stared at Sakura, tendrils still blocking his hearing. Sakura had been caught in the genjutsu, but after she did the "Release" handsigns, Shikamaru had seen her fall to the ground, a vacant look in her eyes.

"Sakura!" He shouted, "Dammit, Sakura! You're supposed to have some of the best chakra control of anyone in the village. Genjutsu should be simple for you to break!"

As he watched her, deciding what to do next, he was stunned as he saw a stain grow across Sakura's lap, and spread to the dirt below her. Just mere seconds after she finished wetting herself, Sakura brought her thumb to her mouth and began to suck on it. Tayuya removed her lips from her flute, stopping the music. Shikamaru saw this and removed the tendrils from his own ears.

"What did you do to her!?" Shikamaru yelled, glaring at Tayuya.

"Heh, well, I put her in a very special genjutsu" Tayuya stated, smirking, "I call it the Rival Entrapment Jutsu. Usually, you just see your rival doing something embarrassing with you, but I decided to take more of an active role with this whore."

"What does it do!?" Shikamaru demanded, clenching his fists.

"Heh, I'm glad you asked." Tayuya responded, smugly, "It's a double layered genjutsu. When she tried to release the first layer, it activated the second, enhancing it due to the effects of the Release technique. By releasing the first layer, it locked the second layer into reality, meaning that a release will do nothing."

Shikamaru rushed over to Sakura, noticing that the smell of urine was pungent around her. He grabbed a kunai from his pouch, and held it over her, ready to cause some pain to her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Tayuya taunted.

"Why not?" Shikamaru asked, annoyed.

"Because I told you before that I learned from our previous battle, remember?" Tayuya teased, "I made certain that pain wouldn't release it, but instead transfer to her illusionary self"

Shikamaru glared at her, but put his kunai away.

"_You'll have to break out of this one yourself, Sakura, I'm sorry_" Shikamaru thought to himself.

"Looks like you'll have to find yourself another whore, shadow-brat" Tayuya taunted, "Or maybe you'll have to face me based on your own abilities for once"

"Don't worry, I plan to" Shikamaru stated, planning his next move.

Oshime looked over at her Sui-Riu sitting a few feet to her side, having reverted to its regular form due to the hilt no longer being held by Oshime. Naruto glanced over at it to, desiring not to let this dangerous kunoichi reclaim her weapon. Oshime knew she was faster than this kid, and was not at all worried of him beating her to the sword if he made a move for it. All that changed, however, when she reached out to strike the boy in front of her, and he was destroyed like a shadow clone. Oshime gasped, knowing that he was the true Naruto after the attack.

"He must have done the jutsu when I had my back turned to examine Sui-Riu!" Oshime muttered, "I got careless..."

Oshime turned to look at her sword, and saw a Naruto pick it up. She assumed it was the real one, as a clone would be too easy to dispatch. As Naruto lifted the sword out of the ground, Oshime gave off a small smirk, and simply watched. Naruto held the sword out, giving off an air of confidence.

"I've got your sword," He mocked, "What are you going to do now?"

Oshime said nothing, and merely watched. Naruto thought that a bit odd, but said nothing as he gripped the sword. He held it out threateningly, despite the fact that he had no plan to use it due to his lack of planning. As he held it out, he noticed something odd. He realized that the blade was getting shorter. He stared at it, realizing that the blade was retracting into the hilt despite the blade's length being much more than the hilt's. As the blade fully retracted, the dragon's mouth closed, the sharp, metal teeth interlocking. Naruto was confused, but figured that as long as he had it, it meant she could not use it, and he did not even plan to. As far as he was concerned, it meant he could not accidentally hurt himself with the blade. Naruto retained his grip on the hilt as he brought his hands together in a familiar handsign formation, as Oshime stood still, a smirk still on her face.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, as the jutsu activated.

Oshime jumped back as a large cloud of smoke surrounded the area, slowly fading out as innumerable clones appeared. Oshime was quite impressed at the number of clones that Naruto created, knowing that he must have had an incredible chakra supply. She also noticed that each clone was holding a cloned hilt of Sui-Riu, hiding the real Naruto among the crowd. Oshime pulled two kunai from her pouch, ready to fend off multiple attackers. As the Narutos charged at her, she managed to fight them off with the kunai, destroying some of them. She could not completely fend off the large number of fighters, taking a few scratches here and there, along with a punch or two. The true Naruto was waiting in the back of the pack for an opportunity to attack, but his impatience caused him to decide to go for it now. He felt an odd feeling coming from the hilt of the sword, but put it out of his mind as we watched his group try to attack the enemy. Naruto called a clone over, and held out his hand, spinning his chakra around in his palm. As the clone helped him build a Rasengan, the feeling in the hilt increased exponentially, devouring Naruto's chakra.

"Wha!?" Naruto and the clones shouted, confused.

"It's about time" Oshime stated, the smirk returning.

She watched as the cloned hilts and the real one devoured the chakra of Naruto, seeing some clones vanish in a puff of smoke from the loss of chakra. The true Naruto's Rasengan died out, unable to be controlled as his chakra was being stolen from him. The Narutos threw their hilts, the cloned ones disappearing as they landed on the ground. Oshime ran quickly for the real hilt, plucking it out of the air as she swerved between the clones. As her hands gripped the hilt, the dragon's mouth opened, the blade extending from within.

"Wh-what the hell was that!?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Just the second half of Sui-Riu's security features" Oshime said calmly, "Seal of the Dragon King, I call it. First, the blade will retract if someone with a different chakra signature than mine were to grasp the hilt. If the enemy decided to continue to hold it, the hilt will eventually begin eating their chakra in an attempt to get the thief to release their grip."

"Huh, not bad" Naruto and the thirty remaining clones stated, "But not good enough!"

Naruto and the clones rushed towards Oshime, as she held out the Sui-Riu.

"Temporal Eternity!" Oshime shouted, releasing some chakra into the blade, "Tayuya may be the genjutsu expert between the two of us, but I'm no slouch in that department."

The blade of the sword began to glow with a light green color, as the sphere of spread from it. Inside the sphere, the light was a bit warbled, mostly so it could be known how far out the sphere had spread. As Naruto was engulfed by the sphere, he felt somewhat odd. Him and the clones continued their rush towards Oshime, but were surprised to find out how slow they were running.

"What...the...hell...!" Naruto shouted, his voice deeper and slower.

"Like my jutsu?" Oshime asked condescendingly, at normal speed despite being in the radius of the attack.

The Narutos each threw a kunai, but they traveled so slow towards Oshime that she was able to walk out of the way of each one separately as they approached. Naruto then realized that everything in the radius of the attack must feel as if time has slowed down, except for their consciousness and the user in general. Oshime then ran at each of the Narutos, slashing as she approached this one. Due to the jutsu, they had no way to escape the attacks of the sword, only vanishing as they were cut. The true Naruto's time to be attacked was coming up shortly, trying to think of a strategy as various clones were destroyed. At that moment, Naruto got an idea and awaited the time for his attack. As the last clone vanished, Oshime ran over to the last Naruto, a smirk growing on her face.

"Gotcha!" She teased, bringing her sword down into his shoulder.

Naruto grimaced, but took the hit. As the sword entered his flesh, Naruto grabbed the hilt of Sui-Riu, much to the surprise of Oshime. As he did, Seal of the Dragon King activated, causing the blade to retract into the hilt. As it did, the current jutsu de-activated, causing time to appear to return to its normal speed. Oshime managed to pull the hilt away from her opponent, mainly because his arm had been injured by taking the blow of the sword. Oshime jumped back a bit, making sure to place distance between her and Naruto, just in case. She noticed that the rock wall in the distance had gotten a bit closer during the battle, and saw signs of battle near it as the sun continued rising.

"Is that all you've got!?" Naruto taunted, holding his wound.

"Just you wait" Oshime responded, planning her next attack as the blade grew out of the dragon's mouth.

As she added more chakra to her blade, she noticed that she was approaching a quarter-tank of chakra, so to speak, and decided to hurry up and end this battle. She poured her chakra in at a fast rate, and held her blade. As she did, she heard a familiar sound, and was greeted by the sight of another massive amount of clones.

"More clones?" She asked, rhetorically, "No matter, it's time to finish this battle."

"I'd like to see you try!" Fifty clones shouted, punching their own palm.

"Well, if you insist..." Oshime stated, utilizing the chakra in the blade, "Bladed Dragon Edge!"

Naruto watched as the etching on the blade began to glow, and expanded till it reached the edge of the blade. The blade itself took the shape of a dragon, yet appeared to still be flat and sharp like a blade. Naruto stared in shock as the dragon launched itself towards the group, extending from the hilt of the blade, yet still attached to it. Despite still being as hard as steel, the dragon was able to curve and turn its metal body. The dragon was three feet tall at its head, and continued to get thinner as it reached the hilt of Sui-Riu. The Narutos did what they could to avoid the blade, but the dragon shot through the crowd, destroying no less than half of clones. Naruto quickly utilized a clone to charge a Rasengan, and had it throw him at the dragon as it approached. This time, the dragon took the full blow, able to hold of the power of the Rasengan. Naruto grimaced as he felt the ball of chakra collapse, just barely avoiding losing his arm by the sword beast. The blade still managed to get him slightly, hitting the wound from before. Naruto yelled as the pain shot through his arm, blood pouring down his arm. The rest of the clones vanished one by one as the dragon once again launched through the crowd, leaving only the real Naruto, clutching his doubly-wounded shoulder.

"You're finished" Oshime stated, mentally bring the dragon up to him slowly.

Naruto stood up as a feeling welled up inside him, familiar and none too soon. Oshime watched as Naruto stood up from the ground, releasing the grip on his arm. Oshime was intrigued as to why he no longer seemed to be in pain, but then noticed a slight bit of steam rise from his skin from under the rips in his shirt. She stood shocked as the wound quickly closed, his skin still covered in his own blood. Oshime noticed that his eyes were red, and possessed an intensity matched by her own orange ones. She had thought his eyes had been blue or maybe green, but she thought she might have been mistaken. That thought was tested as she noticed that his fingernails had grown slightly, his hair had become unkempt, his teeth had become more fang-like and those lines on his face had become smudgy. Oshime lifted the dragon towards him, wondering just what power this kid possessed.

"Why don't you show me what you got!?" Oshime challenged, staring at her feral opponent.

"Don't worry, I plan to" Naruto stated, almost growling.


	9. Defeat

Chapter 9 –

Chapter 9 – Defeat

Shikamaru mentally figured out the distance between him and his opponent, realizing his shadow would only reach about halfway to Tayuya. He decided that running towards her would not be smart, as she would just jump farther away in the best case scenario, or actively fight him off in the worst case scenario. As Tayuya began to put her flute to her lips, Shikamaru prepared two shadow tendrils, just in case it was a genjutsu. To his surprise, Tayuya began blaring any notes she could, loud enough to be painful to anyone's ears. Shikamaru lodged the two tendrils into his ears, but watched as Tayuya turned her body so that her flute was aimed directly at him. Before he could contemplate the reason for this, a blast of compressed air launched from the end of the flute, directly at him. Shikamaru pulled the tendrils out of his ears, and tried to throw them in front of the blast. The two tentacles were quickly obliterated, leaving the blast of air to crash directly into his chest. He was knocked at least five feet back, shakily standing to his feet. He recognized an attack similar to that, long ago during the Chuunin exams, belonging to another Sound ninja named Zaku. Tayuya's variation was less stealthy, due to the loud sounds which would alert the other ninja to the imminent attack, but at the same time, it did not require air cannons to be grafted into one's arms.

"Well, you have improved, I'll give you that..." Shikamaru stated, reluctantly, "But I'm guessing your choice of outfit is due to the damage Temari's summon did to you? We both thought there was no way you survived such a powerful attack."

"Heh, I guess it's a good thing you and her were dumbasses, then" Tayuya mocked, "If you had been smart, I might not have been here to kick your ass."

"We'll see about that." Shikamaru responded.

"That we will." Tayuya stated, putting her lips to her flute.

Shikamaru readied himself, as the loud sounds once again pounded through the air. As the blast launched itself towards him, he jumped back as quickly as he could. The air collided with the ground just in front of him, the barrage of pebbles and cobbles broken off from the ground leaving a few bruises on him as they hit his skin. Shikamaru evaluated his remaining supplies, noting that he had five kunai, seven shuriken, and one bomb tag left. He launched one of the kunai towards Tayuya, who easily dodged it, making sure not to jump too high, lest another tendril sneak up on her. As she landed, Shikamaru threw two shuriken, causing her to dodge once again. Shikamaru quickly launched a kunai at her while she dodged, not giving her a chance to dodge. Tayuya quickly channeled chakra through her flute, and launched a minor air blast at the kunai. As the blast connected, the bomb tag on the kunai detonated, surprising Tayuya and knocking her back a bit. Tayuya got to her feet, and brushed the dirt off her shirt with her free hand.

"Not bad, shit face, not bad" She mocked.

Shikamaru glanced over at Sakura, seeing her still with that vacant look on her face, sucking her thumb. The puddle around her had been mostly absorbed into the ground below, leaving darker colored soil around her figure.

"C'mon Sakura, I could sure use you right now" He mumbled, hoping for her assistance soon.

Sakura opened her eyes, not remembering where she was. As her eyes focused, she saw a familiar room and remembered the events from not long ago. She sat up in the crib, and sighed as she saw she was still in the illusionary nursery. She blushed a bit as she pulled her thumb out of her mouth, and wiped the spit on her shirt. She could feel the diaper still wrapped around her, but noticed something seemed off about it. After a few seconds of squirming, she realized that the garment was quite wet, causing tears to form in her eyes. She did not know if the tears were from her overwhelming embarrassment at this deed, or if her mind was trying once again to act infantile. Nonetheless, she wiped the tears away, and tried to figure out what to do. She tried the "Release" technique a few more times, unsurprised to find it unsuccessful. Sakura was thankful that the mobile had been turned off, afraid its music would cause the rapid mental regression that it had before her nap. Her memories from after the mobile had been turned on were just a blur, but she clearly remembered her teenage self being kicked to the side to allow her infantile side to come forth.

"Well, I'm still sixteen year old Sakura, for now at least..." Sakura mumbled, trying to think how much time had passed since ensnared in the genjutsu.

She thought about all she knew of genjutsu and soon remembered that high powered genjutsu tended to alter the victim's perception of time. For all she knew, she could have been in this illusion for three seconds or three days. Sakura sighed, and fidgeted where she sat as the cooled diaper had becoming a bit itchy. As if on cue, Ino walked through the door and right up to the large crib.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" Ino saccharinely said, "Did Mommy's baby sleep well?"

"Y-yes..." Sakura stuttered, embarrassed at being talked to like this by her rival.

"Hmm..." Ino stated, as if deep in thought. She quickly plunged two fingers into Sakura's diaper, and pulled them out just as fast, "Yup, Sakura's wet. Let's get baby changed!"

Sakura blushed deeply at that exchange, and continued flushing her cheeks as Ino lifted her out of the crib, and carried her over to the changing table. After being placed onto it, Sakura did not even bother to struggle, too afraid of a spanking, not to mention that even if meant wearing another diaper, the wet one was becoming uncomfortable. Sakura blushed ass Ino quickly undid the tabs of the diaper and tossed it out, exposing her privates. She squirmed a bit as the cool baby wipe made contact with her skin, wiping away any urine left on her skin. Sakura tried to psyche herself up for what was next, but she could not help but shiver as Ino powdered her, and gently rubbed it in.

"Almost done, sweety" Ino said, grabbing the new diaper.

Ino easily lifted Sakura's legs and rear off of the table, and lowered them back down after sliding the garment under her. She quickly taped the diaper up, and pulled Sakura into the sitting position.

"All done, sweetheart" Ino cooed, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

Sakura looked down at her new diaper, noticing it was of the same design as the last one. Once again the tabs would not budge, even with Sakura's strength. She gave up trying to remove the diaper, and simply sat there waiting for Ino to do something.

"I think baby needs her num-nums" Ino cooed, smiling at Sakura.

Sakura went pale as she was wondering if she was getting it from a bottle, or directly from the source. Her question was answered as Ino began to remove her top, and her bra after that. Sakura sighed, hoping beyond hope that this illusion would be broken before Ino could feed her. Ino gently lifted her off the changing table, and brought Sakura up to her bare breast. Sakura could feel the warmth of Ino's body once again calm her down, but for some reason, her mind refused to give in to her infantile self. She tried to allow infant Sakura to take over so she could feed, but could not seem to get it to work. Sakura sighed, and stared at Ino's nipple, trying to psyche herself up to suckle from it. After a few seconds, she hesitantly brought her lips around it, and began an awkward suckling motion. She slowly managed to get into the rhythm of the suckling, milk pouring into her mouth as she did. After finishing the milk in the left breast, Ino shifted Sakura over to the right one, and held her there. Sakura sighed, and brought her lips up to this nipple, beginning to drink the milk from this one. She did not particularly hate the taste of the milk, but the just the fact that she was drinking the fluids that Ino was secreting almost made her nauseous. As Sakura finished the last of the milk in the right breast, Ino pulled her up, and laid her over her shoulder. Sakura quickly forced out a burp as her back was being patted, in order to appease her caretaker.

"There we go!" Ino stated, "All done!"

Sakura sighed, and shook her head. After she had finished, she became aware of a feeling in her bladder, and sighed once more.

"Umm, Ino, can I use the bathroom?" Sakura asked, not expecting a positive answer.

"A-gootchie-goo to you to!" Ino cooed, patting Sakura on the head.

Sakura sighed, knowing that the Ino illusion did not understand what she was saying. Sakura decided that delaying the inevitable was pointless if it was going to hurt her, so she shifted in her seat, and allowed herself to begin wetting her diaper. It took a bit of effort to force her body to relax, but soon the urine came streaming out, flooding the diaper as it came out. She could feel the garment absorb everything she threw at it, sighing in relief despite the embarrassment of the situation. As the stream trickled off, she could feel the diaper approaching its limit, but still not leaking. Sakura was impressed that it was able to absorb so much, happy that she would not have to deal with it leaking. Sakura looked up at Ino, hoping Ino would just know that she needed a change. After a few seconds of staring at her, Sakura pointed towards her diaper as if to alert Ino. Ino just smiled at Sakura, oblivious to the kunoichi's attempts. Sakura sighed, and thought of her two choices. She could wait until Ino checked her diaper again, but she was changed not long ago, so that might take awhile. She pondered the other option, not sure she wanted to do so. As a few more seconds passed, she sighed, realizing it was nowhere near as embarrassing as some of the things she had done in this genjutsu.

"Here goes nothing..." She mumbled.

Sakura began imagining her friends and the real Ino seeing her in this situation. She could see them laughing and making very cruel insults towards her. This situation was good, but enough for what she needed, so she thought back to the day Sasuke abandoned the village and, more importantly, abandoned her. This memory was strong enough, especially when combined with the other, to allow tears to stream down her face. As the tears fell, Sakura let out a loud shouting sound, trying to simulate a crying infant. Ino looked Sakura as she cried.

"Hmm, what's wrong, sweety?" Ino asked, not expecting an answer, "Ooh, it looks like baby's diapee is wet." She cooed after checking, "Let Mommy get baby Sakura into a dry diapee!"

Ino lowered Sakura gently onto the changing table, the tears and shouting having all but stopped, and quickly went about the task of changing Sakura's diaper. Despite basically asking for the change, Sakura was still embarrassed for the majority of it. After the change, Ino walked away from the changing table, over to the dresser on the other side of the room. Sakura wondered what Ino was doing, but did not have to wait long until Ino pulled out a large, red garment from the dresser. Ino walked back over to the changing table, and looked at Sakura.

"Let's get you into some pretty clothes" Ino said, beaming.

Ino laid the folded garment onto the table next to Sakura, and quickly pulled Sakura's shirt off of her. Sakura blushed, but did not try and stop her rival from continuing. Ino then removed Sakura's bra, placing it next to her red shirt. Sakura noticed that Ino did not seem to find it odd that her "baby" wore a bra and had the body parts necessary for the use of one. Sakura just shook her head at the colossal strength of this illusion, not bothering to cover her own bare breasts. Ino grabbed the red garment she went to get before, and pulled it over Sakura's head. At first, the pink haired girl thought that it was just a normal shirt, but soon realized that there was extra material in the front and back on the bottom. Ino reached down, and pulled the extra fabric flaps between Sakura's legs, connecting them with snaps that Sakura did not realize were there.

"Oh, it's a onesie..." Sakura said out loud, "Why am I not surprised...?"

She looked down at the red onesie, seeing a Leaf Village icon in yellow across the chest, with an orange flame surrounding it. As Sakura looked at the onesie, she felt an odd feeling in her head, and realized that her infantile self wanted to take over. She began to think that that would not be that bad of an idea, as it would save her the embarrassment that came with the rest of this illusion. On the other hand, that would mean more embarrassing situations, she just would not be conscious of them. Not to mention that she might not ever get out of this genjutsu in that case. Then again, she was not making any progress at breaking the genjutsu anyway. During this inner struggle, Sakura did not even realize that she had stuck her thumb in her mouth and had begun sucking on it. With that, she made the determination to let her mind go, no longer wanting to endure the embarrassment that went with a teenage mind in what might as well be a baby's body. She focused on the infantile self in her head, and sat motionlessly as her teenage mind sank back to allow the baby inside her to come forth. After a couple of seconds, Sakura opened her eyes and looked directly at Ino.

"Mama!" Sakura shouted, a line of drool falling down her chin.

"Very good, Sakura!" Ino cooed, hugging her.

Sakura giggled, and stuck her thumb back into her mouth. Ino smiled at her baby, and carried her to the playpen in the corner. The blond kunoichi placed Sakura into it, and gave her a large stuffed bear to play with. Sakura babbled something, and hugged it tightly. As she did, Sakura looked up at Ino, but noticed something was wrong. She was out of focus, as was the room and everything in it. As Sakura watched, she went more and more out of focus. Scared, Sakura began crying, reaching out for her Mommy. As the room faded into darkness, Sakura's crying was silenced.

Sakura opened her eyes, and found herself lying on the hard ground. She blinked, and noticed the smell of urine in the air. She sat up, and looked around, realizing she was back on the battlefield, blushing as she pulled her thumb from her mouth. She remembered her time in the illusion, also remembering the actions of her infant self, blushing at what she did in that state. Sakura sighed as she saw that she had wet while under the effects of the genjutsu, unsure whether or not she was thankful that she was not wearing a diaper to absorb the accident.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru shouted as he dodged a kunai, "You're awake!"

"Umm, yeah..." Sakura answered, embarrassed about her wet shorts.

"Heh, how'd you break my genjutsu?" Tayuya asked, smirking.

"Umm, I-I don't know..." Sakura answered truthfully.

"Well, since you didn't actively break it, am I to assume that you gave in to the illusion?" Tayuya asked, her smirk growing bigger.

"Umm, well, I did kind of allow that part of my brain to take over before the genjutsu faded" Sakura answered, eliciting laughter from Tayuya.

"Well, I'd figure you'd be too stubborn to do that," Tayuya said, still laughing, "I hope you enjoy the aftereffects of breaking the illusion in that way."

"W-what aftereffects...?" Sakura asked nervously

"Oh, I'll let you figure it out yourself..." Tayuya replied, still smirking.

Shikamaru took this opportunity to throw his remaining kunai at Tayuya, who dodged easily. Tayuya, tired of talking, brought her flute to her lips, and began to once again blare her notes. Sakura, unfamiliar with the jutsu, threw her hands over her ears, scared of another genjutsu. Instead, Sakura saw a blast of compressed air leave the end of the redhead's flute, and work its way towards Sakura. Due to the surprise behind the attack, Sakura had no way to dodge it, only being able to take the hit. Sakura yelled as pain shot through her body, rolling across the ground. Sakura stood up slowly, wincing at the pain of that blast. Shikamaru looked at Sakura, the look on his face not due to concern, but because he had an idea. Sakura did not know the plan, but did know that she must play a part in it. Shikamaru made an odd sign with the hand facing Sakura, and then pointed at his kunai pouch. It took Sakura a few seconds, but she thought she understood what he meant, nodding back to him.

"Time to end this!" Tayuya shouted, bringing her flute to her lips.

"I agree" Shikamaru stated, putting his hands together.

Shikamaru extended his shadow from his body, bringing it as far forward as he could. Tayuya had been prepared to dodge, but saw the shadow stop halfway between the two ninja. She smiled, realizing that his shadow had an extension limit, which he reached quite earlier than Tayuya had to worry about. Sakura looked at Shikamaru, and saw him make that same symbol with his hand, but not breaking the handsign of the jutsu. Sakura looked over the situation, and his idea dawned on her. She smiled as she grabbed her kunai and shuriken, throwing as many as she could. Tayuya was once again prepared to dodge, but noticed that the weapons were not at all going to hit her, on their way a good distance to her right.

"A distraction!" She thought, turning her eyes back to her opponents.

She looked at both of her opponents and was surprised to see them both with confident smirks on their faces. She did not know why they were so confident, but she decided to wipe those smirks off their faces. She tried to bring her flute to her lips, but found that her arms would not respond to her brain, nor would any other part of her body. She gasped as she saw that his shadow had connected to her own, paralyzing her movements.

"H-how!?" Tayuya demanded.

"When Sakura threw those kunai, she wasn't aiming for you," Shikamaru stated, "Some of those weapons passed over my shadow, allowing me to lengthen it as long as it was passed through by a shadow. Sakura tossed enough to give me just enough time to grab your shadow. By the way, thanks for getting distracted by where the weapons were headed, it really helped me to grab your shadow."

"You little..." Tayuya growled, too angry to think up an end to that statement.

Tayuya tried to fight the paralysis, but found herself unable to without the strength boost of the second state of her cursed seal. Shikamaru brought his hands apart, forcing Tayuya to do the same. Tayuya glared at him, waiting for his next move.

"Shikamaru, I'm sorry for this" Sakura stated, as she began running at Tayuya.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow at this statement, but realized what Sakura planned to do almost immediately. He braced himself, knowing he'd rather be on this end than the other. Sakura lunged at Tayuya, and put all the strength she could into one punch. Tayuya stared in shock as Sakura's fist came towards her, almost as if in slow-motion. Tayuya felt the strong punch collide with her chest, pain erupting from her entire body. Tayuya screamed as she shot backwards, her chest hurting worse than any pain she had ever felt. Shikamaru also shot backwards, still mirroring Tayuya's movements. He did not, however, take Sakura's punch, or any pain from it, he was solely following Tayuya's motions. Tayuya had no idea what would happen next, but that fear was answered as she collided back-first into the cliff face behind her. Her momentum embedded her into the hard rock wall, a testament to Sakura's strength. Shikamaru emulated Tayuya's pose, but continued traveling away from the wall, due to the immense momentum caused by the speed he had been traveling. He landed roughly onto the hard ground, the Shadow Possession Jutsu canceling as he landed, and tumbled backwards a good distance. He took a few seconds to get up, and waited for the dizziness to dissipate.

"Shikamaru, are you okay!?" Sakura yelled to him.

Shikamaru nodded to his teammate as he walked back over to what was once the battlefield. He saw his opponent embedded into the rock wall, still alive, but in no condition to continue fighting.

"We did it..." Shikamaru stated, out of breath.

"Yeah, we did" Sakura replied, feeling warmth on her shorts and legs.

Sakura's eyes went wide as she realized that she was currently wetting herself. Shikamaru noticed this as well, assuming this was one of the aftereffects of the genjutsu. Sakura was prepared to clobber Tayuya again, but knew she hadn't the chakra left to do so.

Tayuya was only half conscious, the buzzing in her head preventing her from hearing anything. As her eyes lost focus, Tayuya thought she saw a silvery figure along with a couple of blurry, orange blobs, but thought her eyes might be playing tricks on her.

"I'm...sorry...Oshime..." Tayuya muttered, not sure if she said it aloud, as well as in her head. Then the darkness came, and Tayuya closed her eyes.

Oshime stared at the boy, unsure of how to approach this unknown power. Before she even had a chance to create a strategy, Naruto ran towards Oshime faster than she could have imagined. She took a punch to the gut, knocking her back a good distance. She wheezed as the wind was knocked out of her, canceling the Bladed Dragon Edge Jutsu, and used the normal Sui-Riu as a crutch to help get into a standing position. Oshime saw the fierce vitality in the boy's eyes, wondering how he powered himself up so much. She knew she would need to take action, lest she get blitzed by his speed punches.

"Temporal Eternity!" She shouted, as Sui-Riu's blade turned green.

She extended the radius of effect to about fifteen feet, just as she saw an orange and black blur rifle from where Naruto was standing. As he reached the area of effect, he did indeed slow down, but he was still moving faster Oshime could. As he ran up to Oshime, she slashed at him with her glowing blade, but he knocked it away with a powerful fist. She continued slashing, but Naruto either knocked the blade away, or dodged entirely. Oshime kept at it, and eventually ended up giving him a large gash down his arm. Unfortunately for her, the gash healed by the time she prepared for another attack. She knew she had to change her attack pattern, and jumped back to the edge of her jutsu's radius. Naruto stood his ground, surprisingly not attempting to blitz Oshime again. She added more chakra to her blade, and stabbed it into the ground.

"Moon Dragon Lance!" Oshime yelled, making sure not to end the Temporal Eternity Jutsu.

Like last time, a trail of swords jutted out from the ground, towards Naruto. The feral child roared, and simply watched the blades approach. As the trail reached him, he leapt up, and ran across the tips of the blades that were coming out of the ground. Oshime was shocked, but quickly came to her senses. Just as Naruto jumped at her, she pulled her sword out of the ground, and stabbed upwards, right through the gut of Naruto. He yelled, and fell to the ground. Oshime retained her grip on the sword, twisting the blade to cause more pain and more damage. She went to pull her sword back, content that such a wound would not be easy to recover from, but was surprised to find her sword stuck. No matter how hard she pulled, the blade would not come out. She looked at the blade, and was surprised to find that the boy's wounds had fully healed around the blade of her sword. She had no idea what this boy was, or where he got such incredible regenerative abilities, but she knew this was not going to be an easy battle. She weighed her options, and knew that she would have to sacrifice her Temporal Eternity Jutsu in order to reclaim her weapon. She released her grip on the sword's hilt, and quickly got Naruto's attention for her strategy. Naruto swung his fist down towards her, but she managed to dodge, causing him to graze the hilt of the sword that was lodged in his gut. When his fist made contact, Seal of the Dragon King activated itself. Because the sword was stuck, the hilt seemed to retract towards his stomach, instead of the other way around. When the hilt had reached his stomach and could get no closer, the blade ripped his flesh and insides as it pulled towards the hilt. Naruto grimaced as the sword tore his flesh and innards, even if he healed as soon as it happened. When the sword had fully retracted, the dragon's mouth quickly closed, taking a bite out of Naruto's stomach. Oshime's jutsu faded, allowing Naruto to return to his normal speed. Despite this, Oshime managed to quickly grab Sui-Riu's hilt and pull it away from Naruto before the blade could project again, tearing away the chunk of flesh that had been bitten by the sharp, metal teeth. As Oshime's chakra entered the blade, the mouth opened and the bloody chunk of flesh fell to the ground. She poured more chakra into it, noticing that she was reaching the end of her chakra supply.

"Bladed Dragon Edge!" She shouted, as the dragon etching began to glow.

Once again, the etching reached the edge of the blade and morphed the steel into the shape of a dragon that was three feet tall at the head. She launched the blade at Naruto, who managed to dodge it, no longer needing to deal with the slowdown from Oshime's Jutsu. As Naruto went airborne, Oshime swerved the dragon upwards, increasing its speed as she did. Naruto spun enough to avoid it, but the thin metal dragon spun as it grazed Naruto, and wrapped around the blond shinobi a few times. Oshime made the dragon dive down, slamming the feral child into the ground. Naruto yelled, but did not take any serious damage from the attack. Oshime assumed this, so she raised the pinned teen back into the air, and repeated the slam a few more times. Seeing that she was not doing enough damage, and knowing she was running out of chakra, she decided to take drastic action. She raised the dragon higher, and slammed him down into the small pond near the battlefield. Oshime held the dragon underwater, hoping that he could not regenerate from drowning.

"Take this, runt!" Oshime said, out of breath.

She could feel Naruto struggling while pinned by the blade, but managed to prevent him from breaking free. Naruto, however, was struggling, not to break free, but to bring his hands together. He managed to make his familiar handsign, and created ten clones of himself. These clones were not pinned by the blade, of course, so they managed to jump out of the small body of water, and charge at Oshime. She was annoyed to find out that Naruto could create clones of himself that were able to share this power of his, but knew it was pointless to waste time speculating. She had no way to avoid each clone, and took a strong hit to her free arm, making sure not to lose her grip on the Sui-Riu.

"Damn this kid..." She muttered, standing back up.

When she was knocked back, the dragon had been pulled with her, yanking the real Naruto out of the water just before he ran out of air. Oshime swung the trapped shinobi, and managed to take out all ten of the clones with various swings. For good measure, she pounded Naruto into the ground a couple of times, even if the damage was minimal. She was not expecting what happened next, pulling Naruto down once more. This time, he fell feet first, and as his feet hit the ground, he ran towards Oshime, not fazed by the momentum of the impact. Oshime had no way to block any attacks, and could only watch as the silver, black and orange blur ran in circles around her, trapping her in a similar way she had him. Sui-Riu had been pinned to her side, ironically by its own blade. Her hand remained in contact with it, so she could not cancel the jutsu. Her other arm was free, but she was unable to use it to free her trapped arm, nor could she do much with just that arm. Pinned to the other side of the metal dragon was Naruto, also pinned, but with no arms free. Naruto ran, this time directly at Oshime, growling as did. Oshime punched his face with her free hand, not doing much damage with just a punch. Naruto took the punch directly, not fazed much by it. He took that opportunity to bite down hard on Oshime's hand, eliciting a yell of pain in response.

"Dammit, let go!" Oshime yelled, unable to pull her hand from his fangs.

"Not a chance!" Naruto managed to yell, despite Oshime's fist being lodged in his mouth.

Naruto just clenched down harder on her fist, blood trailing down her hand. Naruto felt nauseous due to tasting someone else's blood, but refused to let go. Oshime was pinned on one hand by the constrictive power of her own blade, and on another by the fangs of a feral teenager. She could still control the dragon, so she tried tugging the dragon away from herself, hoping it would pull him off of her. Unfortunately for her, Oshime's dragon was tugging the boy, but his fangs remained gripped firmly into her hand. She was liable to lose her arm before his fangs released. Oshime had only one other option, but did not want to use it, as there was no guarantee it would work, and it would remove her of her only advantage at the moment. She sighed, knowing she had no other choice, and quickly unwrapped Naruto from his confinement under the dragon, and did the same to herself. She launched the blade at Naruto's head, forcing him to release her fist in order to dodge. Oshime yelled a profanity as she brought her fist to her chest, the pain quite intense.

"Am I going to need a rabies shot...?" Oshime muttered, clutching her bloody hand.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, his voice more of a growl, as ten clones appeared behind him.

Oshime gritted her teeth, knowing this was going to be difficult. She dove her dragon towards the clones, but they managed to fight it off, not even one of them getting destroyed. As she watched, each clone held out an open hand, as blue energy began spiraling around each of their respective palms.

"Rasengan!" Each Naruto yelled, rushing quickly at Oshime.

Oshime tried to use the dragon to take out the row of incoming Narutos, and managed to take out four of them. The remaining kept rushing at her, so she tried to block with the blade, and felt multiple, high-power impacts collide with the dragon blade. She counted six collisions, knowing that her blade could not hold back all those balls of chakra for very long. Suddenly, the number sixteen resonated in head.

"Six clones blocked, and I destroyed four..." Oshime mumbled, as something dawned on her, "There's still the real one!"

She looked around quickly, and heard a twig break behind her. She turned around right as the ball of spiraling energy collided with her gut. She yelled out in pain, the Bladed Dragon Edge Jutsu canceling as she was hit, and was launched backwards, spiraling through the air. She tumbled across the rocky ground, becoming covered in scrapes and bruises. Oshime managed to pull herself to her feet shakily, completely out of breath, almost entirely out of chakra, and knowing that she had lost this battle. As she turned to look at her opponent, she saw him returning back to his normal self, no longer that monster that he was just a few minutes ago. Oshime could tell that, despite being out of breath, Naruto still had enough energy to keep going. She did not want to die, but she knew that there was nothing she could do to continue fighting against him. Before she could continue thinking about this more, she heard a loud crashing sound behind her, and turned to look. She saw a cloud of smoke coming from the rock wall that had gotten closer since the battle began, and saw a small, red-haired figure lying in an impact crater created in the wall.

"Tayuya!" Oshime shouted, running over as fast as her legs would take her, despite the immense pain.

Oshime ran up to Tayuya, not caring whether or not Naruto was in pursuit, clutching her side in pain all the way. She saw the look in Tayuya's eyes, recognizing that Tayuya was barely conscious.

"Tayuya, are you okay!?" Oshime shouted, getting no response.

"I'm...sorry...Oshime..." Tayuya muttered, closing her eyes afterwards.

Oshime carefully pulled Tayuya out of the rock face, taking care not to aggravate Tayuya's injuries.

"Hey! You!" Shikamaru yelled.

Oshime, not able to deal with this situation, grabbed the smoke bomb from her pouch and tossed it on the ground. As the smoke vanished, Tayuya and Oshime were gone, leaving nothing behind but a few small puddles of blood.

"Dammit, they got away!" Naruto shouted, looking around

"Where do you think they went?" Sakura asked.

"Probably the Akatsuki hideout." Naruto replied.

"I'm not so sure about that..." Shikamaru stated.

"Well, it doesn't matter!" Naruto yelled, "We have to find them!"

Before the other two ninja had a chance to respond, Naruto ran in the direction he assumed they went.

"Naruto, wait!" Shikamaru yelled to no effect, "Ugh, that kid never listens."

Shikamaru and Sakura, knowing they had no choice, followed Naruto in the direction he ran.

"Hey, Naruto, wait up!" Sakura shouted, but Naruto did not listen.

"Just follow him" Shikamaru responded, "For some reason, battles always follow Naruto, and something tells me this battle isn't over yet..."


	10. Aftermath

Chapter 10 –

Chapter 10 – Aftermath

Tayuya's eyes opened slowly, showing nothing but a blurry haze. As her eyes focused, the pain throughout her body made itself known to her. The pain was evenly spread across her body, forcing her to remain as motionless as possible. After a few seconds, her eyes had finally retained their focus. She noticed that she was lying on her back on the ground, looking up towards the sky. She looked at the sky, noticing it was the middle of the day, instead of early morning.

"_I've been out for hours..._" She thought to herself.

She tried to sit up, but found that the pain was too intense. She let out an audible groan, and laid back down as gently as her weakened body would allow her to. She heard a twig snap behind her, but could not turn her head to see what it was.

"Tayuya, you're awake!" Oshime said, wanting to hug Tayuya, but knowing it would cause her intense pain.

"Yeah...I...guess...I...am..." Tayuya wheezed, the pain in her chest increasing as she talked.

"Don't try talking or moving, Tayuya, you're badly hurt." Oshime said.

Tayuya nodded, and continued looking at Oshime. Her face had a few nicks and bruises, and her clothes had been torn in a few places, but it looked like she was not injured in any severe way. Tayuya, on the other hand, had multiple injuries all over her body, but that is to be expected after slamming into a rock face. Tayuya noticed that Oshime was holding the sheath of her sword, yet Sui-Riu itself was lying next to Tayuya. Oshime brought the sheath over to Tayuya, and carefully tilted it towards Tayuya.

"Here, drink up." Oshime stated, "I found a small stream not far from here."

Tayuya nodded, and drank the water from the sheath, unsure of whether the sheath had left an aftertaste in the water, or the water was just of low quality. Either way, it was not that good. Oshime saw the look on Tayuya's face as she drank, and chuckled slightly.

"I know the water isn't that great, but it's all we have." Oshime stated, "I don't have enough chakra to summon our packs, and you're in no condition to do so."

Tayuya nodded, and drank some more of the water. Even though it did not taste the best, the cool water felt nice on her sore throat. After she finished, she placed the sheath to her side, and glanced at her surroundings. She could tell they were in a forest, but had no way of knowing how far from the village they were. Based on their injuries, Tayuya assumed that they were not far from the village, which worried her due to the possibilities of their opponents finding her.

"Here" Oshime said, handing Tayuya a clump of some type of plant.

Tayuya looked at it inquisitively, not knowing what it was for.

"It's an herb that is said to help one's chakra regenerate faster" Oshime replied, seeing Tayuya's face, "It's also the only thing we have to eat until we can summon our packs back."

Tayuya nodded, and began eating the plants, surprised at the fact that they did not taste that bad. The meager offering did little for her hunger, but just having something in her stomach felt nice. Tayuya saw Oshime also eating some of the herbs, and felt guilty for having drunken all the water in the sheath.

"Well, we were beaten pretty badly back there" Oshime stated, reaching into her cloak, "But at least we still got the prize."

Tayuya watched as Oshime pulled the Stone of Shadows out from her cloak's pocket, and held it up. Tayuya smiled a bit as she looked at the small artifact. Oshime quickly placed it back into her pocket, and walked over to Tayuya.

"I'm sorry you were hurt, Tayuya" Oshime said, "It's my fault for making us do this heist."

"It's...okay...Oshime..." Tayuya muttered, slowly shaking her head, "As...long...as...we...got...the...stone..."

Oshime smiled, but Tayuya could tell by the look in her eyes that she still felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Tayuya, but until I get enough chakra to summon our packs, I can't change you." Oshime stated, feeling bad.

Tayuya nodded, knowing that her diaper was close to leaking already. At that moment, a breeze blew through the area, chilling both girls.

"Oshime..." Tayuya muttered, looking at the silver-haired kunoichi.

"Hmm? What is it, Tayuya?" Oshime asked.

"I'm...cold..." Tayuya responded.

Oshime noticed that Tayuya was shivering slightly, which probably hurt due to her injuries. She stood up, and walked over to Tayuya, smiling slightly.

"Tayuya, this might hurt a little bit." Oshime stated, before bending down and carefully lifting her up.

Tayuya grimaced at the pain as Oshime carried her gently, but said nothing. Oshime carefully sat down next to a tree, and held Tayuya close, wrapping her cloak around the redhead's body. Being held so close did cause Tayuya's body some pain, but the warmth and human contact felt so good that she did not care about the minor pain.

"Feel better?" Oshime asked, eliciting a nod from Tayuya, "Heh, I bet you wouldn't mind wearing one of those Akatsuki robes right now."

Tayuya smiled, recognizing the irony imbued in Oshime's words. Oshime smiled back, and pulled her cloak around them tighter. Tayuya felt her abdomen grow warmer, and assumed that she had begun wetting. Oshime could feel her lap grow warm and wet, and assumed that Tayuya's diaper had begun leaking.

"Sorry..." Tayuya muttered, blushing slightly.

"It's okay" Oshime said, smiling slightly, "It's not your fault."

Tayuya did not hear her, however, as she had fallen asleep after the wetting, cradled in Oshime's arms.

"Heh, sleep tight, Tayuya" Oshime said gently, "You've earned it."

As Oshime finished, she let out a small yawn, and fell asleep leaning against the tree.

"Shikamaru, what do we do now?" Sakura asked.

"We go after them, of course!" Naruto shouted, looking no worse for wear after his battle.

"It's not that easy, Naruto" Sakura responded, "We need to think about where they went before we pursue them."

"Well, they were both pretty injured" Shikamaru said, "But the silver-haired one had to carry Tayuya away from the scene, so they probably did not get very far."

"Yeah, that's true" Sakura replied.

"Also, they would most likely avoid coming back to this village," Shikamaru added, "So it stands to reason that they are in the forest somewhere, but it could take days to search the entire forest."

"I don't care!" Naruto shouted, "We have to find them!"

"I understand that, Naruto" Shikamaru replied, "But we need to think this out."

"He's right, Naruto" Sakura responded, "If we waste time searching, that gives them the chance to get away."

"Well, if sit here doing nothing, they'll definitely get away!" The blond shinobi yelled.

"Before we do anything, we need Sakura to do some healing, if she doesn't mind" Shikamaru responded.

"I think I have enough chakra for that" Sakura responded, placing her hand over Shikamaru's wounds.

Her hand began to glow with a light green aura, as Shikamaru's wound began to slowly heal. After healing his few injuries, she did the same to herself. When she was done, she looked at Naruto and was unsurprised to find him devoid of injuries.

"Okay, let's go now!" Naruto shouted.

"Ugh, we need a plan first, idiot." Sakura replied.

"Well, we can assume they went into the forest" Shikamaru stated, "Plus, because of the location that she released the smoke bomb, they must have gone into that part of the forest right in front of us."

"Then we should split up" Naruto stated, "That'd increase our chances of finding them"

"True, but if they placed a trap or they ambush one of us, then that person is in trouble." Shikamaru responded, "It's best if we stay together, for now."

"Either way, let's go!" Naruto shouted, running towards the trees.

Shikamaru and Sakura looked at each other, and then proceeded to follow Naruto into the woods.

"Stay on the ground!" Shikamaru shouted, "If we tree-hop, we may miss them on the ground"

"Right!" Both Naruto and Sakura responded.

Oshime was the first to wake up, noticing by the sun setting that quite a few hours had passed while they were napping. She was happy to notice that Tayuya had not wet further, although she would not have blamed her if she had. Her lap had fallen asleep from supporting Tayuya for a few hours, but she had no plans to try to move the sleeping kunoichi. She looked around the area, seeing nothing had changed since her nap, minus the color of the sky. As Oshime looked around, Tayuya slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Oshime.

"Have a good nap?" Oshime asked.

Tayuya managed a small smile, and nodded.

"How are you feeling?" Oshime asked.

"In...pain..." Tayuya responded, "A...lot...of it..."

"I'm sorry" Oshime said, pulling her closer, "This is all my fault."

"Shut...up..." Tayuya muttered, "This...is...not...your...fault..."

"But I was the one-" Oshime stated, before being interrupted.

"I...said...shut...up..." Tayuya wheezed, "This...was...my...fault...for...losing...that...battle..."

The look on Tayuya's face told Oshime not to continue with the argument, even though she felt guilty for the damage done to the redhead.

"What...now...?" Tayuya asked, wincing as she moved her arm.

"We let you heal, and then we escape" Oshime replied.

"Is...that...safe...?" Tayuya questioned, "We...can't...be...too far...from...the...village"

"I know, but we have no choice" Oshime answered, "You're too weak to be carried for long distances, right now."

"Then...leave...me" Tayuya replied, "Take the stone...and leave me...If I...live...I'll meet...up with you...If not...well...you get to keep...all the money."

"Now it's your turn to shut up" Oshime stated, "I'm not going to leave you here to die."

Tayuya let out a small chuckle, and huddled up closer to Oshime. Oshime noticed this, and responded by pulling her cloak tighter around the two of them, recognizing that it was getting cooler as the sun set.

"Thanks" Tayuya muttered, noticing the gesture.

Oshime only smiled in response, and pushed the stray strand of hair of hair out of Tayuya's eyes. Tayuya let out a slight laugh, knowing that Oshime's neatness meant she hated how Tayuya let that clump of hair fall across her face.

"How touching..." A voice stated.

"Wh-who's there!?" Oshime asked, nervous, but recognizing that voice from somewhere recent.

"I'll be the one who is taking the stone from you." The figure said, stepping out from under the shadow of a tree, and eliciting a gasp from Oshime in response.


	11. Mutsuki Baikoku

Chapter 11 -

Chapter 11 - Mutsuki Baikoku

Tayuya stared at the figure that had come into view. She had no idea who he was, but she had also recognized his voice. She searched her memory for where she might have met someone matching this man, but despite recognizing the sound of his voice, her memory yielded no results. She figured she would remember an individual as unique as this man, but could not find him in her mental database. His medium-length spiky hair was bright orange, and decorated with blue and black streaks throughout. He was also heterochromic, his left eye was a bright yellow color, while his right was green.

"M-Mutsuki..." Oshime muttered, looking nervous.

"Mutsuki?" Tayuya thought to herself, "I've heard that name somewhere recently..."

"I see you remember me, Oshime...Shiruba, was it?" Mutsuki stated, a wicked smirk plastered on his face, "It's funny, I remember you as Oshime Enshoku. Odd how things change, isn't it?"

Tayuya was confused, but the look on Oshime's face told her that what he was saying was having an effect on her. The name "Mutsuki" reverberated throughout Tayuya's mind, before she eventually remembered where she had heard the name before.

"Back at the...Kagekage's manor..." Tayuya wheezed, "You...you're...the Kagekage's...assistant..."

"Ah yes, Tayuya, was it?" Mutsuki asked, "I remember you, but I see you've had a bit of bad luck since we last met."

"I'm more...than able...to kick your ass...Ugly" Tayuya said, a slight smirk on her face.

"Ugly? How rude of you." Mutsuki mocked, "A proper person would refer to me as Mutsuki, or perhaps even Mr. Baikoku."

"Well...I'm not proper..." Tayuya stated, "So fuck off..."

Oshime spent the entirety of the exchange staring directly at Mutsuki, quivering slightly.

"M-Mutsuki..." She muttered once again, "Y-you're joking, right? You can't be trying to steal the stone from us!"

"He works for...the Kagekage..." Tayuya muttered, "Of course...he's trying to get it back..."

Oshime ignored her, but Tayuya saw Mutsuki make a large grin at her words.

"Yeah, that must be it..." He replied, laughing a bit.

"Sorry for this, Tayuya" Oshime stated, calmly.

She slowly released her and her cloak's hold on Tayuya and gently laid her in a sitting position against the tree. Tayuya winced at the pains across her body, and followed that by shivering in the cool air. Oshime removed her cloak, and draped it across Tayuya's body as an impromptu blanket. Oshime stood up, and drew her sword, facing Mutsuki the entire time.

"Ah, yes, Sui-Riu." Mutsuki stated, "This will be fun."

"You're not stealing the stone from us!" Oshime said confidently, despite the fact that she was still shaking slightly.

Mutsuki said nothing, but pulled two gold kunai from his pouch, one in each hand. Oshime held her sword in her usual stance, staring intently at Mutsuki.

"Kunai Oblivion!" Mutsuki shouted, holding out the two kunai.

Without warning, the two kunai fused together, and regular kunai began launching out of the odd fusion. Oshime tried to slash them all out of the air, but her tired, weakened condition had an effect on her speed and reflexes. She took a few scratches, but luckily for her, none of the kunai she missed managed to do more than graze her. Tayuya wanted to help, but she knew that there was nothing that she could do in her much weakened state.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Oshime shouted, belying her fear.

"Give me the stone, and we won't have to do this" Mutsuki stated, "It'll save you from a quick death..."

"I'm not giving up the stone." Oshime replied, not changing her stance.

Mutsuki said nothing, and merely unfused the two gold kunai, holding them up.

"Kunai Weapon Transformation" He stated rather calmly.

The two kunai began to glow with a teal aura, as they began to grow and morph. Both Tayuya and Oshime watched as the gold weapons changed shape, the handle of the knife disappearing as the weapon took on the shape of a blade. The small loop on the bottom of each grew to about five inches in diameter, and a bar grew in the center, like a handle across the diameter of the loop. The two gold kunai quickly finished their transformation, leaving one three feet blade, and the other a four foot blade, each attached to their respective loops at their bottoms, still surrounded by the teal aura. Mutsuki grabbed the handle between each loop, and began to spin the blades. It appeared that the handle and loop was a type of pivot, because the blades quickly spun around, despite Mutsuki's hand holding the stationary handle. The blades spun quite quickly, the gold and teal blurs belying the terror the weapons could inflict.

"I call them the short one 'Zeit Stunde'" He stated, holding up the spinning blade in his left hand, "The right one is 'Zeit Minute'. Catchy, no?"

Tayuya was fearful for Oshime, wondering how she planned to counter the two blades with just her sword. Oshime held her weapon, preparing for her next move. Mutsuki took this chance to charge at Oshime, swinging his left hand towards her. Oshime held out her sword to block, but after a loud clanging sound, Sui-Riu, along with Oshime's arm, were knocked to the ground. Oshime jumped back before he had a chance to hit her with the blade, making sure not to lose her sword in the process.

"Bladed Dragon Edge!" Oshime shouted, as the etching on her blade began to glow.

Mutsuki watched the jutsu take its course, Sui-Riu's blade growing to its usual proportions.

"Well, it's about time you got serious." Mutsuki stated, another cruel smirk on his face.

"I'm not letting you get the stone!" Oshime responded.

Naruto was leading the pack through the forest, looking in all directions for any signs of the two girls. Shikamaru and Sakura stayed behind Naruto, following his twists and turns as he ran. After over an hour with no results, the trio took a short break to catch their breath.

"We have to find them!" Naruto shouted, "Before they escape!"

"Naruto, stop shouting" Shikamaru said, "If they hear us, they'll know where we are and that we're coming for them"

"Idiot..." Sakura mumbled, pounding his head.

Naruto rubbed his head lump, glaring at Sakura for the unneeded violence.

"So what do we do, Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, "Do we just keep looking like this?"

"We have no choice," Shikamaru responded, "We have no other way to track them."

"Actually, maybe we do!" Naruto stated, beaming.

Before either of the two had a chance to question his statement, Naruto had bitten his thumb, and performed a series of handsigns. He threw his arm to the ground, and a small puff of smoke came from the spot he hit. After the smoke cleared, a knee-high red toad wearing goggles was standing where Naruto had hit.

"Heya, this is Gamasousa" The toad said, "Who summoned me, and what do you want?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto replied, "That perverted sage told me that you're the best toad for the job I want."

"You know Jiraiya?" Gamasousa questioned, "Wait, are you that kid that the Boss is always making fun of?"

"No, you must be thinking of someone else..." Naruto mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember the Boss calling him 'Naruto' sometimes, instead of 'runt'" Gamasousa replied, "Course I'll help someone that the Boss has helped. What'd'ya need?"

"That old pervert told me that you're the best tracking toad around" Naruto replied, "I need you to help us track two people."

"Sure, sure, no problem" The toad replied, "What'd'ya got for me to track them with?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"I can't just find people, kid" Gamasousa answered, "I need something of theirs so I can track their signature."

"You follow their scent?" Naruto replied.

"I'm a toad kid, not a wolf." He responded, "Since when have you known toads to have a good sense of smell? I follow people based on their chakra signatures."

"Oh..." Naruto responded, feeling his plan fall apart more and more as the seconds passed, "Wait, us and them are probably the only ones in the forest, so can't you just follow the only two chakra signatures not here with us?"

"Sorry, kid, but all living things use chakra," Gamasousa stated, "Those two signatures you want are one in thousands out here, with all the trees and critters. So, I guess this was a pointless trip for me. Well, I'll be seeing ya, kid."

"Here, try this" Shikamaru stated, removing his chuunin vest before Gamasousa had a chance to reverse summon himself.

"Hmm, what's that?" The toad asked, looking at it.

"One of the two attacked me, and the attack hit the vest directly," Shikamaru responded, "There should be something on it that you can use."

"I already told you kids, I don't track by smell" He said, "Ugh, you humans sometimes..."

"I know that," Shikamaru responded, "She attacked by using her chakra to create a blast of compressed air. It hit me on the chest, so their may be something you can use on the vest. It's thick enough that my own signature might not have affected it."

"Hey, smart thinking kid" Gamasousa said, hopping over to Shikamaru, "I guess all humans aren't like Naruto over there"

"Thankfully..." Sakura muttered.

Gamasousa took the vest out of Shikamaru's hands, and began sniffing it.

"Hmm, yeah, I think got something" He said, "And it ain't you, kid, so it must be the one you're looking for"

Gamasousa looked up from the vest, and began looking around the forest.

"This way!" He said, hopping in the direction he was facing.

All three followed him, hoping he had the correct signature.

Mutsuki held onto his two spinning weapons, smirking as Oshime's blade dragon hovered in the air in front of him.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad" Mutsuki stated, "But not good enough."

Mutsuki watched as the dragon launched at him, using both Zeit Stunde and Zeit Minute to hold it off. Oshime struggled to try to hit him with it, but his spinning blades were just too effective. As the dragon pulled back, Mutsuki jumped back from his location.

"Is that all that eyesore can do?" He mockingly asked, "My turn, now."

He held up the spinning blade on the left, aiming it so the plane of rotation was facing Oshime.

"Zephyr Maelstrom!" He shouted, the aura on his weapon becoming brighter.

As Oshime watched, a spiraling column of air released quickly from the weapon, heading for her. She no way to dodge the cyclone, since it had a radius of at least three feet, and was moving fast. Her dragon did little to the column as it plowed towards her, not large enough to take it completely head on. Oshime felt the column hit where she was, making it near impossible for her to focus on her target. It took all the strength she had to not get knocked off of her feet. The wind was strong enough to make her dragon shaky and much harder to control.

"That's just a taste of what I can do." Mutsuki stated, as the cyclone around her died down.

Oshime grimaced, but quickly launched her dragon at him. Instead of just trying to hit him with it as before, she held it in front of him, and quickly added a bit of chakra to her blade. The dragon's face turned red, and quickly shot out a burst of flame at Mutsuki. He looked surprised for a second, but managed to dodge it for the most part, only getting a mild burn on his shoulder.

"You won't catch me off-guard like that again!" Mutsuki threatened.

Oshime knew that now that Mutsuki knew of the potential for fire, it would be much harder to hit him with it. That, combined with her already low chakra, meant that this would be a hard battle to win.

"Jiten!" Mutsuki shouted, catching Oshime off-guard.

After he shouted, he threw his blades at the ground, and watched as they shot towards Oshime, ripping through the ground like buzzsaws. Oshime jumped to the side of the linear saws, impressed by their speed. Mutsuki took his two hands, and moved them sharply to the side, in the same direction Oshime had dived. As he did, both blades quickly turned towards Oshime and ripped towards her. Oshime jumped out of the way again, but was surprised to see the two blades keep their course. She took that opportunity to launch her dragon at the unarmed Mutsuki, but stopped when it dawned on her why the two weapons had not followed her.

"_They weren't going after me at all!_" Oshime thought to herself, the grin on Mutsuki's face confirming her theory.

She turned towards where the blades her heading, and saw Tayuya sitting against the tree, her eyes wide in surprise. Tayuya tried to sit up, but her damaged body made it impossible to dodge. Oshime knew she was too far away to reach her in time, and her dragon was not fast enough. Oshime quickly pulled her dragon back in, reverting Sui-Riu to its usual blade.

"Temporal Eternity!" Oshime shouted loudly, as the radius expanded from her glowing sword.

Oshime used all her willpower to increase the radius as far as she could, eventually reaching far enough to encompass Tayuya and the blades. She saw a scowl on Mutsuki's slowed-down face, and used her unaffected speed to run towards Tayuya. Even with the slowdown, she was far enough away that she was not sure if she would make it. Oshime grabbed Tayuya and the cloak off of the tree, and dived away from the blades. Both tumbled, Tayuya shouting out in slow-motion from the pain of tumbling, increased due her damaged body and the speed Oshime had hit her, comparatively. The cloak was knocked in front of the blades, getting shredded by them quickly. As the cloak was demolished, the small black stone tumbled to the ground. Oshime was too tired to keep the jutsu going, seeing time returning to its usual speed. This time, there was no way for her to dodge the blades, and grimaced as they approached. Surprisingly, both blades stopped their forward motion, although they continued spinning in place. Before Oshime or Tayuya could question this, Mutsuki stood in front of the weapons, picking them up off the ground.

"Thanks for the stone" Mutsuki said, smirking, "I appreciate it..."

Oshime gasped as he picked the stone off of the ground, holding it in his hand.


	12. Climax

Chapter 12 -

Chapter 12 - Climax

Mutsuki let out at slight chuckle as he looked at the two beaten and bruised kunoichi, both with looks of fear on their bloodied faces. He tossed the stone up a few times, catching it each time while he looked over the two girls.

"I think it's about time I show you what power the stone contains within..." Mutsuki stated, catching the stone once again.

Before either girl could question his statement, he gripped the stone tightly, and performed a series of handsigns without losing grip on the small artifact. Oshime summoned her strength, and rushed at Mutsuki, sword in hand. As she approached, a black aura emanated around his body, followed quickly by a shockwave. Oshime was knocked backwards by the attack, wincing at the pain. Mutsuki laughed at the fallen ninja, the black aura still pulsing around his black body. Mutsuki chuckled again, his voice slightly deeper and more sinister.

"It's better than I imagined!" Mutsuki shouted, feeling the energy surge through his body.

"H-how...?" Oshime muttered, staring at Mutsuki.

"I figured you'd want to know about this power." Mutsuki stated, smirking, "A few months ago, I found a scroll buried in a hidden compartment in the back of the Kagegakure library. It described the powers the stone contained within, and how to unlock them. I knew I was the first to discover the scroll since it was hidden away decades ago."

Oshime grimaced as she watched him, afraid for the lives of her and Tayuya. Tayuya stared at Mutsuki from the ground, trying to think of something she could do. She could feel her diaper begin to leak, but could not care less at this point in time. She tried to sit up, but her body was too weak to do so.

"The only thing the scroll didn't describe, was how powerful the stone truly is." Mutsuki continued, "I feel like I could take on the world!"

Oshime held her Sui-Riu, visibly shaking. Mutsuki held his two weapons, their teal aura still glowing brightly in contrast to Mutsuki's own black aura. He quickly began spinning them again, the sound they made evidencing that they were rotating even faster than before. Mutsuki smirked a bit, and threw the shorter weapon in a black blur of arm motion. The teal and gold blur whizzed towards Oshime faster than she could imagine. She quickly used the "Bladed Dragon Edge" jutsu for nothing more than defense. The weapon collided with the metal dragon with a loud clanging sound, and knocked the blade to the ground. The strength of the spinning blade was strong enough that it's momentum was only shifted by Oshime's jutsu, but it was diverted by a large enough angle to avoid slicing Oshime in twain. Oshime panted in exhaustion as she heard the blade whiz into the distance. Mutsuki's smirk did not fade, and soon Oshime heard the whizzing begin to grow louder. She turned around and saw that the blade had spun around like a boomerang, and was on a path back towards her. The sound had given her enough warning to dodge the projectile, but her exhaustion was weighing heavily against her actions. Her sluggish speed was enough for her to barely dodge the gold and teal blur, but she knew she was getting slower as she tired.

"Not bad..." Mutsuki stated, "But let's see how long you can continue dodging..."

Oshime noticed that her Sui-Riu had reverted to its normal blade on its own volition, signifying her lack of chakra. She took stock of her limited supply, knowing she could not last much longer. Mutsuki threw the longer blade at Oshime, whizzing towards her just as fast as the other one. Oshime jabbed her sword into the ground, channeling some of her remaining chakra into it.

"Moon Dragon Lance..." She muttered, feeling her energy drain.

The lack of chakra meant only a few blades protruded from the ground, but one was aimed just as Oshime wanted it to be. The blade jutted out, and shot right up between the handle of the weapon. The blade was knocked slightly to the side, but managed to hold Mutsuki's weapon from advancing, despite it still spinning. Before he had a chance to think, Oshime saw a black blur tear across the ground towards her, and instantly felt a massive pain in her chest. Oshime was knocked back across the ground, yelling out in pain at the punch. Mutsuki looked at his fist and let out a laugh.

"That was barely half-power," He laughed, cracking his knuckles, "Are you prepared to die?"

Oshime said nothing in response, and pulled herself shakily to her feet with her sword. She wheezed as she pumped the last of her chakra into her blade, watching it glow a light green. Oshime did not bother to even speak the name of her jutsu out loud, not that announcing her intent was anything but a detriment. The sphere of effect grew from the blade, but only enough to trap her and Mutsuki. Mutsuki's smirk did not dissipate as he ran at Oshime, holding his fist in position. Despite the slowdown effect, Mutsuki was still nothing more than a black blur as he plowed towards Oshime. Oshime's speed only allowed her to divert the blow from her chest and onto her leg. She could feel the bone shatter, hearing a loud crack to confirm it. She yelled out in pain as the blow hit, no longer able to concentrate enough to keep the jutsu activated. Oshime was knocked backwards by the strong blow, hitting the tree four feet behind her.

"Oshime!" Tayuya shouted, her throat flaring up in pain afterward.

"Game over" Mutsuki calmly stated, bringing the spinning blade he was holding to a halt, and holding it up against Oshime's neck.

"How much further?" Naruto asked the hopping toad.

"Not sure, not too much further, though, kid." Gamasousa replied.

Sakura winced as they ran through the forest, her urine soaked pants becoming cool and itchy. She said nothing, however, but knew that her teammates could recognize the scent in the air.

"Huh, this chakra signature is pretty weak" The toad stated, "Doesn't look like your target is in very good shape"

"After that punch from Sakura, I'm not surprised" Shikamaru responded.

"Tell me about it..." Naruto mumbled, recalling the various abuses he had suffered at the hands of his pink-haired teammate.

"Haha, humans..." Gamasousa chuckled as he hopped towards the source of the chakra signature.

"Hey, Gamasousa" Shikamaru stated, "Make sure you let us know when we're about to reach the target."

"Sure, kid" He replied, "What for?"

"So we can form a strategy before rushing our foes, just in case they aren't as weakened as we thought." Shikamaru answered.

"Hey, another point for the smart kid." Gamasousa stated.

After about twenty more minutes of running, Gamasousa stopped suddenly.

"Hey, what's up?" Naruto asked, stopping when he saw the toad do the same, "Are we just about there?"

"We're not as close as you want, kid, but it's just..." Gamasousa said, trailing off.

"Just what?" Sakura asked.

"I'm detecting a different chakra signature than the one I'm tracking." He replied.

"So?" Naruto questioned, "What's the big deal, you said there were thousands out here."

"Yeah, kid, but this one..." The toad said, "Whoever this is, is incredible..."

"What!?" Naruto shouted, "You said you couldn't track a single person without their chakra signature!"

"I can't" Gamasousa answered, "But this signature stands out from any other in the area. It's just...incredible. I've never felt anything like it before..."

Gamasousa hesitantly began hopping again, unable to hide the look of nervousness on his face. The three Leaf ninja glanced at each other, before following the toad once more.

"Well, Oshime, before I take your life, I must say thank you for allowing me to get the stone." Mutsuki mocked, "You've been quite helpful to me..."

Oshime stared up at the vile figure, not knowing what to say. The pain in her leg was intense, but it was also the least of her worries at the moment. Mutsuki's smirk increased as he moved the blade back a few inches, preparing to slash her throat. Suddenly, a loud sound surprised the two of them. Mutsuki turned to look for the source of the sound, and saw a blast of compressed air headed directly for him. It hit him directly, but only managed to cause him to stumble backwards slightly.

"Is that all you've got?" Mutsuki asked, looking directly at Tayuya.

"Leave...Oshime...alone..." Tayuya wheezed, her throat in great pain from that attack.

"Tayuya..." Oshime muttered, staring at her partner.

"Let's see you try and stop me" Mutsuki stated, cruel smirk plastered on his face.

"Who the hell are you!?" A voice shouted, interrupting the exchange.

"No..." Oshime muttered, "Not him again..."

"Naruto, you idiot!" A female voice shouted, "We were supposed to create a strategy first!"

"Umm, oh yeah, oops..." Naruto muttered, quickly followed by a blunt clonking sound, "Ow! Sakura..."

"How troublesome..." Another voice stated.

"Ugh, you humans..." An unexpected fourth voice added.

The three ninja looked over to where the voices were coming from, and saw Shikamaru, Sakura, a relatively large toad, and Naruto rubbing a head wound standing under a tree.

"Well, kids, my job is finished" Gamasousa said, "I'll be going now, before this kid ends up causing my death."

In a small puff of smoke, the toad summoned itself home, leaving the three Leaf ninja to fend for themselves.

"Hmm, what are Leaf shinobi doing here?" Mutsuki questioned, "Heh, no matter, I'll take of them as soon as I finish you two off."

"Hey, who the hell are you!?" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto, he must be the one that the toad warned us about." Shikamaru responded, analyzing the aura surrounding Mutsuki.

"Well, what the heck is that chakra surrounding him!?" Naruto shouted.

"I'm not sure, but it can't be good..." Shikamaru responded.

"It's...it's the stone..." Oshime stated, "It's giving him great power..."

"Wait, he's fighting the two Akatsuki girls?" Naruto questioned, "I'm confused."

"Seems like he going against them" Shikamaru answered.

"Please...help us..." Oshime said, pulling herself up.

"No way!" Sakura shouted, "You're our enemies!"

"Sakura!" Naruto responded, "We have to help them!"

"They're our enemies, Naruto!" Sakura said, "Why would we help them!?"

"Because they need it, Sakura!" Naruto shouted, "I'm not going to sit back while this monster kills them!"

"But Naruto-" Sakura shouted, before being cutoff.

"Sakura, he's right" Shikamaru stated, "They have info we need. We can't allow them to die before we get that info, especially since we'll probably be facing this freak in battle, anyway."

"Well, I guess..." Sakura responded, still unsure.

"Who cares about all that crap!?" Naruto shouted, "All I care about is that they need help, and I plan to help them!"

"Fair enough" Shikamaru replied.

"Do you three runts really think you can take me down?" Mutsuki growled, laughing.

"I'll break every bone in your body!" Naruto shouted, charging head first at him.

Naruto attempted to punch Mutsuki, but the aura surrounding him repelled the attack. Naruto continued launching his fists at Mutsuki, who stood there taking the blows, but all were as ineffective as the first. Naruto realized that his blows were doing nothing, and jumped back a few feet. Shikamaru saw the smug look on Mutsuki's face, and snaked his shadow towards him. Mutsuki looked down, and saw the shadow on its way to him. He chuckled as it reached his own shadow, and made the connection.

"Gotcha" Shikamaru muttered, before realizing something was wrong, "What the hell!?"

Shikamaru tried to move his body, but found himself unable to. He looked over at Mutsuki, and saw him laughing.

"Shadow Possession?" He mocked, "This is the Stone of Shadows, kid. I can turn that jutsu right back against you. Now, you're trapped in MY shadow."

As if to prove this, Mutsuki lifted his right arm, causing Shikamaru to do the same. Sakura ran at Mutsuki, and threw her strongest punch at him. Her strength allowed her to get past the aura somewhat, able to hit his chest directly. Mutsuki was only knocked back a little bit, not fazed by the attack much at all. Shikamaru, being linked by a Shadow Possession, was also knocked back a bit, thankful he received no damage from the attack. Sakura jumped back to Naruto's position, seeing that there was a clone standing next to him. She saw the chakra orb appear in his hand, and knew what he was doing. After the clone had finished building the Rasengan, Sakura used her strength to throw the real Naruto at Mutsuki, hitting him dead on. Mutsuki grimaced a bit as the spiraling chakra managed to get passed his aura somewhat, but not enough to do any serious damage. Mutsuki punched Naruto backwards, knocking him passed where he was originally. Naruto stood up, a bit of blood trailing down his face, and gave off a small smirk.

"I guess I'll just need to use a stronger attack." Naruto stated to no one in particular.

Tayuya watched helplessly as her enemies helped her and Oshime defeat the man trying to stop them from ripping off a small village of its most valued treasure. She could see Oshime barely able to support her own weight, even with her sword. Tayuya could recognize that her leg was broken, even from where she was laying. Tayuya clutched her flute in her hand, and stared across the battlefield, seeing everything that was happening. Something inside her clicked at that moment, and she realized what she needed to do. She brought her flute to her lips, ignoring the pain, and launched another blast of compressed air at him. He brushed it off, just like the other one, and let out a booming laugh.

"These attacks are like the wind to me!" He boasted, "None of you can even touch me!"

"Leave us alone!" Tayuya shouted at the top of her lungs, surprising everyone in the vicinity.

"Tayuya..." Oshime said, worried for her health.

Naruto did not pay attention to the girl, and simply created a clone. Tayuya pulled herself into a sitting position, not caring about the pain.

"I will protect Oshime!" Tayuya shouted, her throat throbbing in pain, "I will not let her down!"

Mutsuki just laughed, watching the girl do more damage to herself by simply yelling. Tayuya brought her flute to her lips, and once again blew into it to make a loud sound. This time, however, the sound was much louder than normal, up to a deafening level. Sakura and Oshime covered her ears at the sound, but Naruto had no free hands in which to do so. Shikamaru, still mirroring Mutsuki's movements, was unable to cover his ears, since Mutsuki did not cover his own. He grimaced at the loud sound, not sure how the weakened girl could summon this much power, when she did not approach this even at full health. Tayuya felt her remaining chakra being yanked from her body, pouring up and out her throat and into the blast. The burst that escaped from her flute was much larger, and shaped more like a continuous attack, rather than a single blast. Mutsuki laughed as it shot towards him, not even bothering to dodge. When the blast made contact, he was astonished by its strength, feeling it push him backwards and actually hurting where it made contact.

"Not bad for a half-dead little runt..." Mutsuki growled, grimacing.

Naruto and his clone had finished spiraling their own chakra creating a large Rasengan held between the two of them.

"Oodama Rasengan!" the two Narutos shouted, rushing towards Mutsuki.

At that moment, Tayuya's remaining chakra poured into the burst, increasing its strength. Mutsuki shouted as he was knocked backwards, directly into the Oodama Rasengan. Pinned between the two attacks, the aura simply was not strong enough. The air blast was knocking through the aura with brute strength to do damage to his chest, while the strength of the Rasengan was enough to push the aura to the side while it grinded his spine. The black chakra began to spiral around the chakra sphere, turning it as black as the aura itself. Tayuya put all her strength into her blast, as Naruto's now black Oodama Rasengan plowed against Mutsuki's back. His yells increased in magnitude as the aura around him began to fluctuate violently, before it quickly burst, obscuring the entire area in an ironic, bright blast of light. At that instant, Tayuya's flute shattered from the stress, her throat feeling like it could do the same. Naruto's Rasengan unraveled, his close proximity to the aura burst knocking him backwards as it destroyed his clone.

"Mutsuki..." Oshime muttered through the blinding light.

When the light faded, Mutsuki's body lay on the ground, bloody, with his heterochromic eyes rolled back into his head. No one had to check his pulse to know that he was dead. Tayuya looked from where she was sitting, and saw Oshime staring in shock at Mutsuki's corpse. Her orange eyes were wide in bewilderment, as if they would not register what she was seeing. She stared for a few more seconds, before shakily walking over to Tayuya. Tayuya managed a slight smile, despite her beaten body.

"We did it..." Tayuya muttered weakly.

Oshime simply nodded, lifting the stone off of the ground. Naruto, Shikamaru and Sakura looked at each other, neither sure what to say.

"Well, I guess we interrogate them now..." Sakura muttered.

"No, Sakura, now we help them." Shikamaru responded calmly.

"Help, but...?" Sakura asked, trailing off.

"You haven't figured it out yet, Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, "I knew Naruto wouldn't get it, but I thought you might."

Both Naruto and Sakura gave him confused looks, not understanding what he meant.

"Now's not the time to explain, but I'll simply say that those two are not Akatsuki members" Shikamaru stated, walking over to them.

Naruto and Sakura followed, unsure of their teammate's words. As they approached, both girls looked them over with suspicion.

"It's ok" Shikamaru said, "We're offering our healing services to you."

Sakura walked over to Tayuya, who said nothing as her wounds her attended to. It took a few minutes, but Sakura managed to do what she could with Tayuya's wounds. Her throat was still sore, as was her body, but she could tell she was in better shape than she was. Sakura delicately tended to Oshime's wounds, doing all she could for that broken leg.

"It's not fully healed, but you should be able to walk on it just fine" Sakura stated, finishing up.

"Thank you..." Oshime muttered, looking vacant.

"Yeah, thanks..." Tayuya responded.

Sakura was about to ask if there was anything else that needed to be healed, but she felt a warmth around her waist. She looked down and stared in shock at the puddle growing across her mostly dry shorts. Before she could say anything, she heard Tayuya chuckle slightly.

"Remember those after-effects I warned you about...?" She asked.

"How long will this last...?" Sakura asked, gritting her teeth.

"A few days, maybe a week. But no more than two. A month at most." Tayuya stated, smirking.

It took a Shikamaru Shadow Possession, five Narutos and Oshime to prevent Sakura from wailing on the red-haired girl. Tayuya chuckled, but then felt the warmth of unconsciousness seeping through her. As her eyes closed and the world faded out, Tayuya looked at Oshime directly, smiling gently.


	13. Answers

Chapter 13 -

Chapter 13 - Answers

Tayuya slowly her opened her eyes, but they were too unfocused to see anything at all. As her eyes focused, she realized she was inside, and the bed she was laying on was pretty comfortable. She turned her head and saw Oshime sitting in the chair next to her bed, sleeping peacefully. Tayuya did not want to wake her, so she simply sat up quietly. Her body was still a little sore, but the healing from that Leaf Village girl helped tremendously. She could feel that her diaper was wet, but not as wet as it was upon her blacking out, signifying that Oshime had changed her at least once. She felt a bit itchy down there, but seeing as her diaper was still warm, she figured she must have gotten a minor rash.

"I don't want to even think about that..." She mumbled, beginning to take a look around the room.

It only took her a few seconds of examination for her to realize that this was her room in the house they had stayed in while in Kagegakure. Tayuya looked around in a panic, trying to figure out why they were back in the village that now should consider them on the top of the most wanted list in their Bingo book. Tayuya heard the chair to the side creak, and turned to see Oshime awake, stretching.

"You're awake!" Oshime shouted, hopping onto the bed and over to Tayuya.

Tayuya had no time to even respond, as Oshime had her in a hug right away. Tayuya had not felt strength like this since Sakura had hit her directly in the chest.

"Ack! O-oshime..." Tayuya managed to sputter, under the pressure of her lungs collapsing.

"Heh, sorry, I'm just happy you're awake." Oshime said, releasing her grip.

"How long have I been out?" Tayuya asked after she had regained her ability to breathe.

"Just the night" Oshime responded, "I thought it would be a day or two, but I guess Sakura's healing was better than I thought."

"Yeah" Tayuya responded, "But let's see her heal those aftereffects..."

Both girls laughed, each thinking of how Sakura reacted to her first accident.

"Hey, Tayuya" Oshime began, "Do you need a change yet?"

"Umm, yeah..." Tayuya answered, blushing.

"Ok, then, lay back, Tayuya" Oshime began, before realizing, "Oh, umm, I mean, I'll leave the room so you can get changed, yourself..."

"It's ok, Oshime" Tayuya answered, before Oshime had a chance to move, "Go ahead"

Oshime smiled as Tayuya laid back onto the bed, and pulled the covers off of her. Oshime gently slid Tayuya's sweatpants down to her ankles, exposing her wet garment. She quickly untaped the tabs of the diaper, and slid it out from under Tayuya, tossing it into the trash on the side. Both girls were blushing, but it was not the same type of blush that they had shared a few years ago when they had first met. Tayuya winced as the cool wipe brushed against her rash, eliciting an apology from Oshime.

"I'll see what they have at the store next time I go" Oshime stated, "They should have something for a rash"

"Yeah, but I bet it's not made for adults..." Tayuya replied.

"Heh, maybe not, but I'll make you use it anyway" Oshime responded, sticking her tongue out at the redhead.

After Oshime had finished wiping her, she quickly powdered her privates, and followed up by rubbing it in gently, causing each girl's blush to increase exponentially. Oshime grabbed the last diaper in Tayuya's pack, and slid it under the girl's behind. After taping it up, she pulled Tayuya's sweatpants back into position.

"Thanks..." Tayuya replied, still blushing.

"You're welcome." Oshime replied, also blushing, "I'll get some more diapers later, also."

"Right..." Tayuya responded, not paying much attention to the conversation, "Umm, Oshime, we need to talk."

"I know" She responded, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so let's begin."

Tayuya nodded, and as she did, the doorbell rang. Oshime told to Tayuya to wait a moment, and went to check on their visitor. Tayuya looked around the room, waiting, hearing mumbling from downstairs. A few seconds later, two sets of feet ascended the staircase, as Oshime walked into the room, followed shortly by the Kagekage. Tayuya gasped, despite being in a house in the middle of the village.

"Tayuya, your answers begin here." Oshime stated.

Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru arrived at the gates of Konoha just as the sun was rising the next morning. Sakura was trying to hide behind Naruto, lest any villagers see her wet shorts.

"Sakura, no one's going to notice that you wet yourself." Naruto stated, about ten times louder than she would have liked.

Sakura pounded Naruto on the head, despite the fact that the only people in the area were Izumo and Kotetsu, who went back to being bored after they recognized the three ninja who had just entered.

"I swear to god, Naruto, I _will_ kill you..." Sakura threatened, her fists still clenched.

Naruto backed away from the girl, knowing she was more serious this time, rather than others.

"Causing such a racket is just going to make your problem more obvious, Sakura" Shikamaru stated nonchalantly.

Sakura blushed when she realized he was right, and calmed herself down. The three ninja continued until they reached the inner village, and separated to go to their respective homes. Sakura walked towards her house until Naruto and Shikamaru were out of sight, and then headed for the local market, hoping it would be empty this early in the morning. She was happy to find that it was, and bought a few items, trying to hide her embarrassment from the cashier. She quickly ran home, not seeing a single soul between her house and the market.

"I'm lucky it's early morning." She muttered.

After she had entered her house, she quietly walked upstairs to avoid arousing her parents. She entered her room, and placed her purchases on the bed. She removed her skirt, shorts and underwear, throwing all three into the trash, figuring it would be easier to get rid of them, rather than try and explain to her mother what had happened. After she pulled the package out of the bag, she placed it on the bed and opened it reluctantly. She looked at the pull-up from within, refusing to dignify her condition by wearing diapers. She grabbed a few tissues, and wiped her legs as best she could. Sakura then pulled the relatively thin garment up her legs, and followed that with a simple pair of shorts. She moved around a bit, trying to see how it felt.

"Well, at least it's not as bad as a diaper..." She mumbled.

After she hid the bag under her bed, Sakura slipped under the covers, hoping to sleep for a few hours.

"I'm going to kill that girl..." She mumbled as she fell asleep.

Sakura was awoken a few hours later by the sound of someone knocking at her door.

"Sakura, Ino heard you got back from your mission, and wants to take you for some lunch." Sakura heard her mother say, "Welcome home, dear."

Sakura, never one for mornings, just mumbled something incoherent to her mother, and sat up in her bed. She felt something odd, and then remembered what she was currently wearing. She mentally cursed Tayuya once again, and went about changing into a new pull-up. After she had, she changed into a new outfit, and headed downstairs. She said good-bye to her parents, and met Ino outside.

"Hey, I figured you and your forehead might want to get something to eat now that your back." Ino stated.

Sakura glared at her, but soon felt her glare fade as a feeling of warmth pervaded her head. She was confused as to why she felt like this, but then her memory came back quickly.

"Oh god no, anything else but this, anything at all" Sakura muttered to herself.

"Hmm? What was that?" Ino asked.

"Oh, umm, nothing Mo-err, I mean, Ino." Sakura quickly replied, feeling the warmth in her head grow.

"Err, ok..." Ino responded, beginning to walk towards the eatery.

Sakura followed after her shakily, as if she was having trouble walking. She managed to keep up, however, and soon felt her pull-up grow warm. She giggled at the warmth in both her head and pull-up, and continued toddling after Ino.

Tayuya stared as the Kagekage sat down, wondering what was going on. Oshime sat back in the chair next to the bed, and welcomed him into the house, despite it belonging to him.

"Thank you, Ms. Enshoku." He responded.

"Ok, Tayuya, you may begin asking questions." Oshime stated.

Tayuy's mind was racing at a mile a minute. Nothing made sense to her, and she was questioning every action of the past few days.

"Umm, what about why two people have called you 'Enshoku'?" Tayuya asked.

"Well, because that's my real surname." Oshime responded, "Oshime Enshoku."

"Why did you lie about your name?" Tayuya asked.

"Because I didn't want anybody to know I was from the Enshoku clan" Oshime answered, "So I came up with a partial alias."

"The Enshoku clan?" Tayuya questioned.

"Yes, they used to be part of Kagegakure, but after a certain incident, they left to form their own village." Oshime said.

"Kagegakure? But that means..." Tayuya replied, trailing off.

"Yes, I am from the Village Hidden in the Shadows." Oshime responded.

"Ok, so why are we back in the village? Err, no offense." Tayuya asked, adding the end bit for the Kagekage.

"None taken" He replied, followed by his booming laughter.

"Umm, this is why..." Oshime responded, digging into her pants pocket.

She pulled out the Stone of Shadows, and handed it over to the Kagekage, despite Tayuya's bewildered face.

"But...but..." Tayuya stuttered, "I-I almost died get that stone, and you're just giving it back!?"

"Tayuya, please, just listen!" Oshime said, tearing up a bit, "I had to do this, Tayuya. I couldn't let the stone fall into the wrong hands."

"We had heard rumors of the stone being sought after by a malevolent force," The Kagekage stated, looking somewhat haggard, "But to think it was my own son..."

"Mutsuki was your adviser _and_ your son?" Tayuya asked.

"As well as my childhood friend" Oshime interjected, "My best friend..."

"I sought the help of Ms. Enshoku, despite her having left the village some time ago." The Kagekage stated, "I couldn't let the village fall into panic by letting someone know, so I went for an outsider, and planned to have that person steal it before someone else could."

"But wouldn't that throw the village into even more panic?" Tayuya asked.

"All notices of the theft would reach my ears before anyone else's. At that point, all I needed to do was not allow anyone to tell anyone what happened. Since I knew that the stone was safe, there was no need to rile up the troops." The Kagekage answered, "It took a lot to get Oshime onboard, as she did not want to deceive you, but know this, Ms. Tayuya, I requested that she not tell you of the truth of the mission until afterwards, as I was unaware if I could trust you or not. I implore you to not blame Ms. Enshoku."

Tayuya nodded in understanding, trying to think of anything else she had questions about, somewhat annoyed at risking her life for such deception.

"What about those Leaf Ninja?" Tayuya asked, "Why were they there?"

"That was just an unfortunate event" He replied, "We've sent a messenger to the Leaf Village to try to find out why they sent shinobi on their own volition."

"I think it might have been the Akatsuki robes" Oshime stated, "They seemed to recognize us as their targets the second they saw the robes at the village gates."

"Yeah, about those robes" Tayuya responded, "Why were we wearing them?"

"Well, we needed disguises..." Oshime replied, "And I thought they looked cool..."

"You…you had me wear that damn thing, despite my hatred for it, and nearly had us both killed...for fashion!?" Tayuya shouted, clenching her fists.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know that would happen!" Oshime stated, sincerely.

"I believe that answers any question you may have, so I shall be taking my leave now. I thank you both for what you have done." The Kagekage stated, as Oshime led him downstairs. When Oshime returned, Tayuya was still sitting on the bed, a look on her face telling Oshime that she did not know how to feel about the situation. Oshime decided to break the silence after a few seconds.

"Tayuya, I'm sorry." She stated, "I shouldn't have lied to you."

"It's okay, Oshime" Tayuya responded, not turning her head.

"No, it's not!" Oshime replied, emphatically, "Because of my choices, you were almost killed!"

"Oshime, please, it's okay." Tayuya said, looking over at her, "You did what you needed to. I can't fault you for that."

"I know, but if anything had happened to you..." She muttered, tears falling down her face.

"I'm fine now, so don't worry." Tayuya said, smiling.

"Thank you" Oshime replied, smiling and then pulling Tayuya into a lighter hug than last time.

"Although, I preferred thinking that we were going to sell the stone for a lot of money..." Tayuya said.

"Oh? Well, this may not be quite the same, but there is this..." Oshime said, smiling, and pulling out a bag from under Tayuya's bed.

Before Tayuya could question what the bag was, Oshime spilled its contents onto the bed, causing Tayuya's jaw to drop. It was a very large sum of money, about as much as they would have expected if they had sold the stone.

"I love you" Tayuya said, beginning to roll around in the money.

Oshime laughed at first, and then looked at Tayuya.

"I-I love you, too..." She replied, blushing.

Tayuya stopped rolling, and looked up at her, blushing.

"I-I think I do, too..." Tayuya said, blushing even more.

Neither said anything as Tayuya sat up, and pulled Oshime onto the bed and into a passionate kiss. After a few minutes, they broke it off, both blushing.

"Umm, what about this house...?" Tayuya asked, wanting any conversation she could think to start.

"Oh, umm, we own it, now." Oshime said, "It was added for what we had to go through."

"Err, so we're going to live in this village, now?" Tayuya replied, "I don't know if the villagers will accept someone like me, especially since I thought I was stealing the stone to sell it off."

"Hmm? Whatever do you mean?" Oshime replied, sarcastically, "The Kagegakure bingo book just mentions that Mutsuki stole the stone, and was killed in a struggle afterwards by three Leaf Ninja who mistook him for an Akatsuki member they were pursuing."

"Really?" Tayuya asked, quite surprised.

"Yup, I asked for that myself" Oshime responded, "Also, we are not official kunoichi of the village, so we don't have to do missions or anything like that."

"Ok, that's good." Tayuya replied, "I guess this village isn't as dumb as I thought."

Oshime laughed, and gave Tayuya a hug.

"Hmm, you know, I could go to the store now, but I'm still very exhausted from our battle yesterday." Oshime said, smiling.

"Oh, me too" Tayuya replied, also smiling, "I think we both need a good nap."

Oshime scooted under the covers with Tayuya, and brought he into another hug.

"Umm, what about the money?" Oshime asked.

"Leave it, I've always wanted to sleep in a pile of money, and I'm sure this is as close as I'll ever get." Tayuya stated.

Oshime laughed, and turned off the small lamp on the side of the bed. Since it was midday, the room did not become much darker, but both girls were indeed still exhausted. Oshime and Tayuya embraced each other under the covers, and each drifted off into a deep sleep just a few seconds later, each girl thinking happily of the other.

The End


End file.
